Special Issue on "Proteostasis and Autophagy"

Abstract

Autophagy is a highly conserved eukaryotic pathway responsible for the lysosomal degradation (and subsequent recycling) of cellular components such as proteins, protein aggregates, and a growing number of organelles or cellular compartments [...].

Figure 1

The two key cellular protein degradation pathways to ensure protein homeostasis: proteasomal degradation and the autophagic–lysosomal pathway. Protein folding is controlled by chaperones to ensure a correct three-dimensional protein structure. Misfolded proteins can be transferred to two key principal degradation pathways. While proteasomal degradation represents mostly the routine degradation of dysfunctional proteins including regular protein turnover, the autophagosomal pathways clear cargo such as protein oligomers and aggregates (disease-proteins), whole organelles (mitochondria), intruders (upon bacterial or viral infection) but also membrane fragments (endoplasmatic reticulum).