Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 30, 2026

Exploring the Regulation of Lipid Droplet Catabolism through Lipophagy
Published on: January 31, 2025
Autophagy in protein and organelle turnover
1Department of Physiology and Cell Biology, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, 1-5-45 Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8519, Japan. nmizu.phy2@tmd.ac.jp
Abstract:
Macroautophagy is an evolutionarily conserved degradation system in the cell. In autophagy, intracellular components are sequestered by autophagosomes and subsequently degraded upon fusion with lysosomes. Genetic analysis of autophagy in mammals has revealed that autophagy is important for various physiological processes, such as adaptive responses to starvation, embryogenesis, quality control of intracellular proteins and organelles, tumor suppression, degradation of intracellular pathogens, and anti-aging. In this review I describe the various roles of autophagy, with a particular focus on the turnover of cytoplasmic proteins and organelles.
Related Concept Videos
Autophagy
An autophagic pathway consists of a series of signaling events activated in response to diverse stress and physiological conditions such as food deprivation,...
Delivery Pathways to the Lysosome
Endocytosis
In endocytosis, the cell membrane takes up macromolecules and particles from the surrounding medium. Clathrin-mediated...
Autophagic Cell Death
Autophagy and Apoptosis
Autophagy can activate apoptosis. In normal conditions, the autophagy activating protein Beclin-1 and pro-apoptotic...
Cellular Injury V: Apoptosis and Autophagy
The Proteasome
In this pathway, the target proteins are first tagged with small proteins called ubiquitin. This involves participation of a series of enzymes including— E1 (ubiquitin-activating enzyme), E2 (ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme), and E3 (ubiquitin...
The Proteasome
In this pathway, the target proteins are first tagged with small proteins called ubiquitin. A series of enzymes carry out the ubiquitination of the target proteins - E1 (ubiquitin-activating enzyme), E2 (ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme), and E3...

