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Results for “Autophagy”

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PubMed2000

Tor-mediated induction of autophagy via an Apg1 protein kinase complex.

Autophagy is a membrane trafficking to vacuole/lysosome induced by nutrient starvation. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Tor protein, a phosphatidylinositol kinase-related kinase, is involved in the repression of autophagy induction by a largely unknown mechanism. Here, we show that the protein kinase activity of Apg1 is enhanced by starvation or rapamycin treatment. In addition, we have also found that Apg13, which binds to and activates Apg1, is hyperphosphorylated in a Tor-dependent manner, reducing its affinity to Apg1. This Apg1-Apg13 association is required for autophagy, but not for the cytoplasm-to-vacuole targeting (Cvt) pathway, another vesicular transport mechanism in which factors essential for autophagy (Apg proteins) are also employed under vegetative growth conditions. Finally, other Apg1-associating proteins, such as Apg17 and Cvt9, are shown to function specifically in autophagy or the Cvt pathway, respectively, suggesting that the Apg1 complex plays an important role in switching between two distinct vesicular transport systems in a nutrient-dependent manner.

Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing↗

PubMed2006

A critical role for the autophagy gene Atg5 in T cell survival and proliferation.

Macroautophagy (hereafter referred to as autophagy) is a well-conserved intracellular degradation process. Recent studies examining cells lacking the autophagy genes Atg5 and Atg7 have demonstrated that autophagy plays essential roles in cell survival during starvation, in innate cell clearance of microbial pathogens, and in neural cell maintenance. However, the role of autophagy in T lymphocyte development and survival is not known. Here, we demonstrate that autophagosomes form in primary mouse T lymphocytes. By generating Atg5-/- chimeric mice, we found that Atg5-deficient T lymphocytes underwent full maturation. However, the numbers of total thymocytes and peripheral T and B lymphocytes were reduced in Atg5 chimeras. In the periphery, Atg5-/- CD8+ T lymphocytes displayed dramatically increased cell death. Furthermore, Atg5-/- CD4+ and CD8+ T cells failed to undergo efficient proliferation after TCR stimulation. These results demonstrate a critical role for Atg5 in multiple aspects of lymphocyte development and function and suggest that autophagy may be essential for both T lymphocyte survival and proliferation.

Animals↗

PubMed2005

Atg17 functions in cooperation with Atg1 and Atg13 in yeast autophagy.

In eukaryotic cells, nutrient starvation induces the bulk degradation of cellular materials; this process is called autophagy. In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, most of the ATG (autophagy) genes are involved in not only the process of degradative autophagy, but also a biosynthetic process, the cytoplasm to vacuole (Cvt) pathway. In contrast, the ATG17 gene is required specifically in autophagy. To better understand the function of Atg17, we have performed a biochemical characterization of the Atg17 protein. We found that the atg17delta mutant under starvation condition was largely impaired in autophagosome formation and only rarely contained small autophagosomes, whose size was less than one-half of normal autophagosomes in diameter. Two-hybrid analyses and coimmunoprecipitation experiments demonstrated that Atg17 physically associates with Atg1-Atg13 complex, and this binding was enhanced under starvation conditions. Atg17-Atg1 binding was not detected in atg13delta mutant cells, suggesting that Atg17 interacts with Atg1 through Atg13. A point mutant of Atg17, Atg17(C24R), showed reduced affinity for Atg13, resulting in impaired Atg1 kinase activity and significant defects in autophagy. Taken together, these results indicate that Atg17-Atg13 complex formation plays an important role in normal autophagosome formation via binding to and activating the Atg1 kinase.

Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing↗

PubMed1998

A protein conjugation system essential for autophagy.

Autophagy is a process for the bulk degradation of proteins, in which cytoplasmic components of the cell are enclosed by double-membrane structures known as autophagosomes for delivery to lysosomes or vacuoles for degradation. This process is crucial for survival during starvation and cell differentiation. No molecules have been identified that are involved in autophagy in higher eukaryotes. We have isolated 14 autophagy-defective (apg) mutants of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and examined the autophagic process at the molecular level. We show here that a unique covalent-modification system is essential for autophagy to occur. The carboxy-terminal glycine residue of Apg12, a 186-amino-acid protein, is conjugated to a lysine at residue 149 of Apg5, a 294-amino-acid protein. Of the apg mutants, we found that apg7 and apg10 were unable to form an Apg5/Apg12 conjugate. By cloning APG7, we discovered that Apg7 is a ubiquitin-E1-like enzyme. This conjugation can be reconstituted in vitro and depends on ATP. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a protein unrelated to ubiquitin that uses a ubiquitination-like conjugation system. Furthermore, Apg5 and Apg12 have mammalian homologues, suggesting that this new modification system is conserved from yeast to mammalian cells.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed1999

Apg16p is required for the function of the Apg12p-Apg5p conjugate in the yeast autophagy pathway.

Autophagy is an intracellular bulk degradation system that is ubiquitous for eukaryotic cells. In this process, cytoplasmic components are enclosed in autophagosomes and delivered to lysosomes/vacuoles. We recently found that a protein conjugation system, in which Apg12p is covalently attached to Apg5p, is indispensable for autophagy in yeast. Here, we describe a novel coiled-coil protein, Apg16p, essential for autophagy. Apg16p interacts with Apg12p-conjugated Apg5p and less preferentially with unconjugated Apg5p. Moreover, the coiled-coil domain of Apg16p mediates self-multimerization that leads to cross-linking of Apg5p molecules and formation of a stable protein complex. Apg16p is not essential for the Apg12p-Apg5p conjugation reaction. These results suggest that the Apg12p-Apg5p conjugate requires Apg16p to accomplish its role in the autophagy pathway, and Apg16p is a key molecule as a linker to form the Apg12p-Apg5p-Apg16p multimer.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed1995

Novel system for monitoring autophagy in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The yeast S. cerevisiae imports cytosolic components into the vacuole non-selectively by autophagy and degrades them by vacuolar hydrolases under nutrient starvation conditions. We developed a novel system for monitoring autophagy by constructing cells in which modified vacuolar alkaline phosphatase is expressed as an inactive precursor form in the cytosol. Under starvation conditions, the processing of the precursor to the mature form and phosphatase activity appeared gradually, and the mature form was located in the vacuole. Disruption of APG1, an essential gene for autophagy, resulted in no processing or phosphatase activity. These results indicate that the precursor form in the cytosol is transferred to the vacuole by autophagy and converted to the active form by vacuolar proteinases. Thus, autophagy could be determined easily and accurately by measuring the phosphatase activity.

Alkaline Phosphatase↗

PubMed2001

Autophagy delays sulindac sulfide-induced apoptosis in the human intestinal colon cancer cell line HT-29.

Autophagy is a major catabolic process allowing the renewal of intracellular organelles by which cells maintain their homeostasis. We have previously shown that autophagy is controlled by two transduction pathways mediated by a heterotrimeric Gi3 protein and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase activities in the human colon cancer cell line HT-29. Here, we show that 3-methyladenine, an inhibitor of autophagy, increases the sensitivity of HT-29 cells to apoptosis induced by sulindac sulfide, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug which inhibits the cyclooxygenases. Similarly, HT-29 cells overexpressing a GTPase-deficient mutant of the G(alpha i3) protein (Q204L), which have a low rate of autophagy, were more sensitive to sulindac sulfide-induced apoptosis than parental HT-29 cells. In both cell populations we did not observe differences in the expression patterns of COX-2, Bcl-2, Bcl(XL), Bax, and Akt/PKB activity. However, the rate of cytochrome c release was higher in Q204L-overexpressing cells than in HT-29 cells. These results suggest that autophagy could retard apoptosis in colon cancer cells by sequestering mitochondrial death-promoting factors such as cytochrome c.

Adenine↗

PubMed1992

Cellular autophagy in proximal tubules of early diabetic rats following insulin treatment and islet transplantation.

The influence of insulin treatment (group 1) and allogenic islet transplantation (group 2) on renal cellular autophagy were evaluated in adult Lewis rats in the early phase of streptozotocin-induced diabetes mellitus--a condition in which autophagy is inhibited and renal mass is increased. Three days after insulin treatment or islet transplantation (IT), the right kidney was resected and cortical tubular tissue was examined by quantitative electron microscopy. In group 1, the volume and numerical densities of autophagic vacuoles (AVs) increased by 70% and 80% respectively in the proximal tubular cells compared with saline-injected controls. The additive effect of unilateral nephrectomy (Ux) on cellular autophagy was investigated 1 or 2 days after Ux. Compared with the resected right kidney, the volume and numerical densities of AVs in the remnant left kidney decreased by 49% and 43% in the insulin-treated rats, and by 43% and 39% in the saline-injected diabetic animals. In group 2, the volume and numerical densities of AVs increased by 45% and 44% in parenchyma regressing from diabetic hypertrophy after IT, compared with sham-operated controls. After Ux, the volume and numerical densities of AVs decreased by 49% and 43% in IT rats, and by 41% and 53% in the still diabetic sham-operated animals. The data show that inhibition of cellular autophagy in the proximal tubules of the early diabetic kidney can be reversed by insulin replacement, despite the fact that insulin per se inhibits cellular autophagy in the nondiabetic kidney.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗

PubMed2006

Autophagy in innate and adaptive immunity against intracellular pathogens.

Autophagy delivers cytoplasmic constituents for lysosomal degradation. Recent studies have demonstrated that this pathway mediates resistance to pathogens and is targeted for immune evasion by viruses and bacteria. Lysosomal degradation products, including pathogenic determinants, are then surveyed by the adaptive immune system to elicit antigen-specific T cell responses. CD4(+) T helper cells have been shown to recognize nuclear and cytosolic antigens via presentation by major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II molecules after autophagy. Furthermore, some sources of natural MHC class II ligands display characteristics of autophagy substrates, and autophagosomes fuse with late endosomes, in which MHC class II loading is thought to occur. Although MHC class II antigen processing via autophagy has so far mainly been described for professional antigen-presenting cells like B cells, macrophages, and dendritic cells, it might be even more important for cells with less endocytic potential, like epithelial cells, when these express MHC class II at sites of inflammation. Therefore, autophagy might contribute to immune surveillance of intracellular pathogens via MHC class II presentation of intracellular pathogen-derived peptides.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

PubMed2006

Identification and characterization of two rice autophagy associated genes, OsAtg8 and OsAtg4.

Autophagy is an intracellular process for vacuolar degradation of cytoplasmic components. The molecular machinery responsible for yeast and mammalian autophagy has begun to be elucidated at the cellular level. A genome-wide search revealed significant conservation among autophagy genes in yeast and Arabidopsis. Up till now, however, there is no report about rice autophagy associated genes. Here we cloned OsAtg8 and OsAtg4 from Oryza sativa and detected their expression patterns in various tissues. Immunoblotting analysis showed that carboxyl terminus of OsAtg8 can be cleaved in yeast cell. Mutation analysis revealed that the conserved Gly117 residue of OsAtg8 was essential for its characteristic C-terminal cleavage as similar to that found in mammalian and yeast Atg8. We further proved that OsAtg8 interacted with OsAtg4, and this interaction was not affected by the conserved Gly117 mutation. Our results demonstrate that Atg8 conjugation pathway is conserved in rice and may play important roles in rice autophagy.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed2005

Autophagy in cardiac myocyte homeostasis, aging, and pathology.

Autophagy, an intralysosomal degradation of cells' own constituents that includes macro-, micro-, and chaperone-mediated autophagy, plays an important role in the renewal of cardiac myocytes. This cell type is represented by long-lived postmitotic cells with very poor (if any) replacement through differentiation of stem cells. Macroautophagy, the most universal form of autophagy, is responsible for the degradation of various macromolecules and organelles including mitochondria and is activated in response to stress, promoting cell survival. This process is also involved in programmed cell death when injury is irreversible. Even under normal conditions, autophagy is somewhat imperfect, underlying gradual accumulation of defective mitochondria and lipofuscin granules within aging cardiac myocytes. Autophagy is involved in the most important cardiac pathologies including myocardial hypertrophy, cardiomyopathies, and ischemic heart disease, a fact that has led to increasing attention to this process.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

PubMed2006

Autophagy as an immune defense mechanism.

Autophagy is a homeostatic process whereby cytosol or intracellular organelles are sequestered by a double membrane structure termed autophagosome for subsequent delivery to lysosomes and degradation. Autophagy takes part in cell survival and death and has been implicated in development, aging, neurodegeneration and cancer. The newly discovered specialized role of autophagy in immune cells expands autophagic functions to defense against intracellular pathogens. Furthermore, autophagy is involved in acquired immunity, such as antigen processing for MHC II presentation, and is modulated by cytokines such as IFN-gamma. A further link has emerged between autophagy and defense against intracellular pathogens via the immunity-related GTPase lrgm1 (LRG-47), which has a protective role against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. We propose the term immunophagy for these defense processes.

Animals↗

PubMed2005

Inactivation of the autophagy gene bec-1 triggers apoptotic cell death in C. elegans.

Programmed cell death (PCD) is an essential and highly orchestrated process that plays a major role in morphogenesis and tissue homeostasis during development. In humans, defects in regulation or execution of cell death lead to diabetes, neurodegenerative disorders, and cancer. Two major types of PCD have been distinguished: the caspase-mediated process of apoptosis and the caspase-independent process involving autophagy. Although apoptosis and autophagy are often activated together in response to stress, the molecular mechanisms underlying their interplay remain unclear. Here we show that BEC-1, the C. elegans ortholog of the yeast and mammalian autophagy proteins Atg6/Vps30 and Beclin 1, is essential for development. We demonstrate that BEC-1 is necessary for the function of the class III PI3 kinase LET-512/Vps34, an essential protein required for autophagy, membrane trafficking, and endocytosis. Furthermore, BEC-1 forms a complex with the antiapoptotic protein CED-9/Bcl-2, and its depletion triggers CED-3/Caspase-dependent PCD. Based on our results, we propose that bec-1 represents a link between autophagy and apoptosis, thus supporting the view that the two processes act in concerted manner in the cell death machinery.

Animals↗

PubMed2005

Hid can induce, but is not required for autophagy in polyploid larval Drosophila tissues.

The major cell death pathways are apoptosis and autophagy-type cell death in Drosophila. Overexpression of proapoptotic genes in developing imaginal tissues leads to the activation of caspases and apoptosis, but most of them show no effect on the polytenic cells of the fat body during the last larval stage. Surprisingly, overexpression of Hid induces caspase-independent autophagy in the fat body, as well as in most other larval tissues tested. Hid mutation results in inhibition of salivary gland cell death, but the disintegration of the larval midgut is not affected. Electron microscopy shows that autophagy is normally induced in fat body, midgut and salivary gland cells of homozygous mutant larvae, suggesting that Hid is not required for autophagy itself. Constitutive expression of the caspase inhibitor p35 produces identical phenotypes. Our results show that the large, post-mitotic larval cells do not react or activate autophagy in response to the same strong apoptotic stimuli that trigger apoptosis in small, mitotically active imaginal disc cells.

Animals↗

PubMed2006

Autophagy in neurons: it is not all about food.

The primary function of autophagy in most cell types is adaptation to starvation. Because neurons are protected from this type of stress, the physiological role of autophagy in normal functioning neurons was, until now, poorly understood. Using genetic manipulations to block autophagy in neurons selectively, Mizushima's and Tanaka's groups have recently presented conclusive evidence for an essential role of constitutive autophagy in neuronal survival. These studies provide new insights into the relationship between autophagy malfunctioning and neurodegenerative disorders.

Animals↗

PubMed2006

The formation of peripheral myelin protein 22 aggregates is hindered by the enhancement of autophagy and expression of cytoplasmic chaperones.

The accumulation of misfolded proteins is associated with various neurodegenerative conditions. Peripheral myelin protein 22 (PMP22) is a hereditary neuropathy-linked, short-lived molecule that forms aggresomes when the proteasome is inhibited or the protein is mutated. We previously showed that the removal of pre-existing PMP22 aggregates is assisted by autophagy. Here we examined whether the accumulation of such aggregates could be suppressed by experimental induction of autophagy and/or chaperones. Enhancement of autophagy during proteasome inhibition hinders protein aggregate formation and correlates with a reduction in accumulated proteasome substrates. Conversely, simultaneous inhibition of autophagy and the proteasome augments the formation of aggregates. An increase of heat shock protein levels by geldanamycin treatment or heat shock preconditioning similarly hampers aggresome formation. The beneficial effects of autophagy and chaperones in preventing the accumulation of misfolded PMP22 are additive and provide a potential avenue for therapeutic approaches in hereditary neuropathies linked to PMP22 mutations.

Animals↗

PubMed2004

Autophagy: in sickness and in health.

The degradation of intracellular components in lysosomes (autophagy) has recaptured the attention of cell biologists in recent years. The main reason for this renewed interest is the dissection of the molecular machinery that participates in this process, because the identification of new intracellular elements involved in autophagy has provided new tools to trace, quantify and manipulate autophagy in a growing number of organisms. As a result, a better understanding of the physiological roles of autophagy, the consequences of its malfunctioning and its participation in different pathological processes has emerged. This article reviews our current knowledge of the role of autophagy in disease and the efforts to reconcile its proposed dual function as both a cell protector and a cell killer.

Animals↗

PubMed2006

Aggregate-prone proteins are cleared from the cytosol by autophagy: therapeutic implications.

Intracellular protein misfolding/aggregation are features of many late-onset neurodegenerative diseases, called proteinopathies. These include Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, tauopathies, and polyglutamine expansion diseases [e.g., Huntington's disease; and various spinocerebellar ataxias (SCAs), like SCA3]. There are no effective strategies to slow or prevent the neurodegeneration resulting from these diseases in humans. The mutations causing many proteinopathies (e.g., polyglutamine diseases and tauopathies) confer novel toxic functions on the specific protein, and disease severity frequently correlates with the expression levels of the protein. Thus, the factors regulating the synthesis and clearance of these aggregate-prone proteins are putative therapeutic targets. The proteasome and autophagy-lysosomal pathways are the major routes for mutant huntingtin fragment clearance. While the narrow proteasome barrel precludes entry of oligomers/aggregates of mutant huntingtin (or other aggregate-prone intracellular proteins), such substrates can be degraded by macroautophagy (which we will call autophagy). We showed that the autophagy inducer rapamycin reduced the levels of soluble and aggregated huntingtin and attenuated its toxicity in cells, and in transgenic Drosophila and mouse models. We extended the range of intracellular proteinopathy substrates that are cleared by autophagy to a wide range of other targets, including proteins mutated in certain SCAs, forms of alpha-synuclein mutated in familial forms of Parkinson's disease, and tau mutants that cause frontotemporal dementia/tauopathy. In this chapter, we consider the therapeutic potential of autophagy upregulation for various proteinopathies, and describe how this strategy may act both by removing the primary toxin (the misfolded/aggregate-prone protein) and by reducing susceptibility to apoptotic insults.

Animals↗