Atg8 is involved in endosomal and phagosomal acidification in the parasitic protist Entamoeba histolytica.

ABSTRACT: Autophagy is one of two major bulk protein degradation systems and is conserved throughout eukaryotes. The protozoan Entamoeba histolytica, which is a human intestinal parasite, possesses a restricted set of autophagy-related (Atg) proteins compared with other eukaryotes and thus represents a suitable model organism for studying the minimal essential components and ancestral functions of autophagy. E. histolytica possesses two conjugation systems: Atg8 and Atg5/12, although a gene encoding Atg12 is missing in the genome. Atg8 is considered to be the central and authentic marker of autophagosomes, but recent studies have demonstrated that Atg8 is not exclusively involved in autophagy per se, but other fundamental mechanisms of vesicular traffic. To investigate this question in E. histolytic

SUBMITTER: Picazarri K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4744732 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature