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Updated: Jan 31, 2026

Live Cell Imaging of Early Autophagy Events: Omegasomes and Beyond
Published on: July 27, 2013
Drosophila Arl8 is a general positive regulator of lysosomal fusion events
Attila Boda1, Péter Lőrincz2, Szabolcs Takáts2
1Department of Anatomy, Cell and Developmental Biology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary.
Abstract:
The small GTPase Arl8 is known to be involved in the periphery-directed motility of lysosomes. However, the overall importance of moving these vesicles is still poorly understood. Here we show that Drosophila Arl8 is required not only for the proper distribution of lysosomes, but also for autophagosome-lysosome fusion in starved fat cells, endosome-lysosome fusion in garland nephrocytes, and developmentally programmed secretory granule degradation (crinophagy) in salivary gland cells. Moreover, proper Arl8 localization to lysosomes depends on the shared subunits of the BLOC-1 and BORC complexes, which also promote autophagy and crinophagy. In conclusion, we demonstrate that Arl8 is responsible not only for positioning lysosomes but also acts as a general lysosomal fusion factor.
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