Autophagy Regulation of Bacterial Pathogen Invasion

Autophagy pathway is highly conserved in all eukaryotic species and responsible for targeting of cytosol components, such as protein aggregates, damaged or unnecessary organelles, and intracellular bacterial pathogens for lysosome-dependent degradation. Besides severing as a catabolic process, autophagy pathway furthermore has been discovered to function pivotally in both innate and adaptive immune responses. At present, it has been well demonstrated that certain types of bacteria could be targeted by autophagy upon their invasion. However, several bacterial pathogens have developed strategies to evade this degradation and clearance. Here, we review the role and mechanism of autophagy in the regulation of bacteria invasion, which may facilitate the designing of clinical drugs for efficient and safe cure of infection diseases caused by toxic bacteria.