Skip to main content
Figure 1 | Molecular Neurodegeneration

Figure 1

From: All-you-can-eat: autophagy in neurodegeneration and neuroprotection

Figure 1

Steps in macroautophagy and chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA). Macroautophagy: 1.) Nucleation. An unidentified membrane source delivers lipid bi-layers for the formation of the phagophore. In yeast this early structure is termed pre-autophagosomal structure (PAS), its identity in mammalian cells is uncertain. A class III PI3K complex consisting of at least BECN1, PIK3C3, PIK3R4, UVRAG, and AMBRA1 is required for PAS formation and MAP1LC3 is anchored to the membrane via a phosphoethanolamine (PE) anchor (LC3-II). 2.) Expansion. The PAS or a comparable structure in mammals sequesters cytosolic cargo (either specifically via SQSTM1 [p62] or nonspecifically) by invagination, forming a double-membranous vesicle. This stage is also called "isolation membrane". More membrane and LC3-II is being recruited to the developing vacuole. 3.) Maturation. The completed autophagosome undergoes multiple maturation steps and fusion events with multi-vesicular bodies (MVB) or endosomes. The exact nature and sequence of this maturation, and whether these steps are always required is currently unknown. The autophagosomal lumen becomes more acidified during this maturation. 4.) Docking and fusion. During docking and fusion the inner membrane compartment together with its content gets released into the lysosome/autolysosome and is being degraded by lysosomal hydrolases. The components of the outer membrane are available for re-usage. Chaperone-mediated autophagy: 5.) Recognition and binding. The HSC70 chaperone complex (consisting of HSC70, HSP90 and maybe other proteins) recognizes unfolded proteins with the KFERQ sequence and moves them to the lysosome. 6.) Translocation. LAMP2A and a lysosomal form of HSC70 (l-HSC70) translocate the substrate protein across the lysosomal membrane into the lumen for degradation. The autophagy delivered substrates get degraded inside the lysosomes and their macromolecular components are made available to the cell's metabolism via permeases that allow their transport back into the cytosol.

Back to article page