Comment on

• Aggregate-prone proteins with polyglutamine and polyalanine expansions are degraded by autophagy.

  Ravikumar B, Duden R, Rubinsztein DC. Ravikumar B, et al. Hum Mol Genet. 2002 May 1;11(9):1107-17. doi: 10.1093/hmg/11.9.1107. Hum Mol Genet. 2002. PMID: 11978769
• Promotion of tumorigenesis by heterozygous disruption of the beclin 1 autophagy gene.

  Qu X, Yu J, Bhagat G, Furuya N, Hibshoosh H, Troxel A, Rosen J, Eskelinen EL, Mizushima N, Ohsumi Y, Cattoretti G, Levine B. Qu X, et al. J Clin Invest. 2003 Dec;112(12):1809-20. doi: 10.1172/JCI20039. Epub 2003 Nov 24. J Clin Invest. 2003. PMID: 14638851 Free PMC article.
• Beclin 1, an autophagy gene essential for early embryonic development, is a haploinsufficient tumor suppressor.

  Yue Z, Jin S, Yang C, Levine AJ, Heintz N. Yue Z, et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2003 Dec 9;100(25):15077-82. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2436255100. Epub 2003 Dec 1. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2003. PMID: 14657337 Free PMC article.
• Suppression of basal autophagy in neural cells causes neurodegenerative disease in mice.

  Hara T, Nakamura K, Matsui M, Yamamoto A, Nakahara Y, Suzuki-Migishima R, Yokoyama M, Mishima K, Saito I, Okano H, Mizushima N. Hara T, et al. Nature. 2006 Jun 15;441(7095):885-9. doi: 10.1038/nature04724. Epub 2006 Apr 19. Nature. 2006. PMID: 16625204
• Loss of autophagy in the central nervous system causes neurodegeneration in mice.

  Komatsu M, Waguri S, Chiba T, Murata S, Iwata J, Tanida I, Ueno T, Koike M, Uchiyama Y, Kominami E, Tanaka K. Komatsu M, et al. Nature. 2006 Jun 15;441(7095):880-4. doi: 10.1038/nature04723. Epub 2006 Apr 19. Nature. 2006. PMID: 16625205