The Golgi complex: a common platform for canonical and non-canonical autophagy?

Autophagy is a self-digesting process by which a cell protects itself from threats both within and outside the cell, ranging from abnormal proteins to invading bacteria. In this process, obsolete components of the cell and invading microbes are degraded by hydrolytic enzymes active in an acidic environment of the lysosomal lumen.
An autophagic pathway consists of a series of signaling events activated in response to diverse stress and physiological conditions such as food deprivation,...

Eukaryotic cells use different mechanisms to eliminate toxic waste obsolete and worn-out substances. Lysosomes play a pivotal role in this, and hence, these substances are carried to the lysosome from other parts of the cell and extracellular space through different pathways. The most elaborately studied pathways to the lysosome are the endocytic pathways.
Endocytosis
In endocytosis, the cell membrane takes up macromolecules and particles from the surrounding medium. Clathrin-mediated...

As they leave the Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER), properly folded and assembled proteins are selectively packaged into vesicles. These vesicles are transported by microtubule-based motor proteins and fuse together to form vesicular tubular clusters, subsequently arriving at the Golgi apparatus, a eukaryotic endomembrane organelle that often has a distinctive ribbon-like appearance.

Properly folded and assembled proteins are selectively packaged into vesicles that exit the ER. Motor proteins transport these vesicles to the Golgi apparatus for adding modifications that make these proteins functional at their destination.
The Golgi apparatus is a eukaryotic organelle that has a distinctive ribbon-like appearance. It is a primary sorting and dispatch station for cargo arriving from the ER. Newly arriving vesicles enter the cis face of the Golgi, closest to the ER, and are...

Properly folded and assembled proteins are selectively packaged into vesicles that exit the ER. Motor proteins transport these vesicles to the Golgi apparatus for adding modifications that make these proteins functional at their destination.
The Golgi apparatus is a eukaryotic organelle that has a distinctive ribbon-like appearance. It is a primary sorting and dispatch station for cargo arriving from the ER. Newly arriving vesicles enter the cis face of the Golgi, closest to the ER, and are...

Christian de Duve discovered “autophagy,” a process in which cellular components are engulfed by membrane-bound organelles called autophagosomes. The autophagosomes then fuse with lysosomes to digest the enclosed contents. Autophagy is generally activated in cells to prevent cell death. However, cell death is triggered when the damage is beyond repair.
Autophagy and Apoptosis
Autophagy can activate apoptosis. In normal conditions, the autophagy activating protein Beclin-1 and pro-apoptotic...