Direct induction of autophagy by Atg1 inhibits cell growth and induces apoptotic cell death.

ABSTRACT:

Background

To survive starvation and other forms of stress, eukaryotic cells undergo a lysosomal process of cytoplasmic degradation known as autophagy. Autophagy has been implicated in a number of cellular and developmental processes, including cell-growth control and programmed cell death. However, direct evidence of a causal role for autophagy in these processes is lacking, resulting in part from the pleiotropic effects of signaling molecules such as TOR that regulate autophagy. Here, we circumvent this difficulty by directly manipulating autophagy rates in Drosophila through the autophagy-specific protein kinase Atg1.

Results

We find that overexpression of Atg1 is sufficient to induce high levels of autophagy, the first such demonstration among wild-type Atg proteins. In

SUBMITTER: Scott RC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1865528 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature