The Pro-apoptotic STK38 Kinase Is a New Beclin1 Partner Positively Regulating Autophagy.

ABSTRACT: Autophagy plays key roles in development, oncogenesis, cardiovascular, metabolic, and neurodegenerative diseases. Hence, understanding how autophagy is regulated can reveal opportunities to modify autophagy in a disease-relevant manner. Ideally, one would want to functionally define autophagy regulators whose enzymatic activity can potentially be modulated. Here, we describe the STK38 protein kinase (also termed NDR1) as a conserved regulator of autophagy. Using STK38 as bait in yeast-two-hybrid screens, we discovered STK38 as a novel binding partner of Beclin1, a key regulator of autophagy. By combining molecular, cell biological, and genetic approaches, we show that STK38 promotes autophagosome formation in human cells and in Drosophila. Upon autophagy induction, STK38-depleted cells dis

SUBMITTER: Joffre C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4598746 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature