SGD Paper Help  Xie Z, et al.  (2008) Atg8 Controls Phagophore
Expansion during Autophagosome Formation. Mol Biol Cell
19(8):3290-8  Abstract: Monitoring Editor: Howard Riezman
Autophagy is a potent intracellular degradation process with
pivotal roles in health and disease. Atg8, a lipid conjugated
ubiquitin-like protein, is required for the formation of
autophagosomes, double-membrane vesicles responsible for the
delivery of cytoplasmic material to lysosomes. How and when Atg8
functions in this process, however, is not clear. Here we show
that Atg8 controls the expansion of the autophagosome precursor,
the phagophore, and give the first real-time, observation-based
temporal dissection of the autophagosome formation process. We
demonstrate that the amount of Atg8 determines the size of
autophagosomes. During autophagosome biogenesis, Atg8 forms an
expanding structure and later dissociates from the site of
vesicle formation. Based on the dynamics of Atg8, we present a
multi-stage model of autophagosome formati