ABSTRACT
Autophagy is essential for the maintenance of cellular homeostasis and its dysfunction has been linked to various diseases. Autophagy is a membrane driven process and tightly regulated by membrane-associated proteins. Here, we summarized membrane lipid composition, and membrane-associated proteins relevant to autophagy from a spatiotemporal perspective. In particular, we focused on three important membrane remodeling processes in autophagy, lipid transfer for phagophore elongation, membrane scission for phagophore closure, and autophagosome-lysosome membrane fusion. We discussed the significance of the discoveries in this field and possible avenues to follow for future studies. Finally, we summarized the membrane-associated biochemical techniques and assays used to study membrane properties, with a discussion of their applications in autophagy.
Subject(s)
Autophagosomes/metabolism , Autophagy/genetics , Intracellular Membranes/metabolism , Lysosomes/metabolism , Membrane Lipids/chemistry , Membrane Proteins/metabolism , Animals , Autophagosomes/ultrastructure , Autophagy-Related Proteins/genetics , Autophagy-Related Proteins/metabolism , Biological Transport , Cell Membrane/chemistry , Cell Membrane/metabolism , Cell Membrane/ultrastructure , Endosomal Sorting Complexes Required for Transport/genetics , Endosomal Sorting Complexes Required for Transport/metabolism , Gene Expression , Homeostasis , Intracellular Membranes/chemistry , Intracellular Membranes/ultrastructure , Lysosomes/ultrastructure , Mammals , Membrane Fusion , Membrane Lipids/classification , Membrane Proteins/chemistry , Membrane Proteins/classification , Membrane Proteins/genetics , Saccharomyces cerevisiae/metabolism , Saccharomyces cerevisiae/ultrastructure , Vesicular Transport Proteins/genetics , Vesicular Transport Proteins/metabolismABSTRACT
Autophagy is essential for the maintenance of cellular homeostasis and its dysfunction has been linked to various diseases. Autophagy is a membrane driven process and tightly regulated by membrane-associated proteins. Here, we summarized membrane lipid composition, and membrane-associated proteins relevant to autophagy from a spatiotemporal perspective. In particular, we focused on three important membrane remodeling processes in autophagy, lipid transfer for phagophore elongation, membrane scission for phagophore closure, and autophagosome-lysosome membrane fusion. We discussed the significance of the discoveries in this field and possible avenues to follow for future studies. Finally, we summarized the membrane-associated biochemical techniques and assays used to study membrane properties, with a discussion of their applications in autophagy.
