Autophagy as a universal intracellular process. A comment on the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

The 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to molecular biologist Yoshinori Ohsumi for his work in the field of autophagy (Greek for “self eating”). This fact has once again directed the attention of many scientists to a common cellular phenomenon occurring in all eukaryotes from yeast to mammals, namely the process by which the cell digests and then recycles its components. Although the phenomenon of autophagy was discovered in mammals, a method for monitoring it by light microscopy was established in the unicellular eukaryote, the buddingy east Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The article describes the achievements of the Nobel Laureate, the mechanism of autophagy and its role in the cell physiology of organisms including the unicellular pathogen, the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii.