NPC-phagy: selective autophagy of the nuclear pore complexes

Selective autophagy is critical for the regulation of cellular homeostasis in organisms from yeast to humans. This process is a specific degradation pathway for a wide variety of substrates including unwanted cytosolic components, such as protein aggregates, damaged and/or superfluous organelles, and pathogens. However, it has been less clear as to whether a protein complex or substructure of an organelle can be targeted for removal by selective autophagy. One example of such a substrate is the nuclear pore complex (NPC), a large macromolecular assembly that is present throughout the nuclear envelope. Here, we highlight two recent studies that demonstrate for the first time that NPCs are targeted for vacuolar degradation through selective autophagy.

AIM: Atg8-interacting motif; NE: nuclear envelope; NPC: nuclear pore complex; Nup: nucleoporin; PMN/micronucleophagy: piecemeal microautophagy of the nucleus.