Mizushima Noboru
Department of Cell Biology, National Institute for Basic Biology, 38 Nishigonaka, Myodaiji, Okazaki 444-8585, Japan.
Int J Biochem Cell Biol. 2004 Dec;36(12):2491-502. doi: 10.1016/j.biocel.2004.02.005.
Autophagy is an intracellular bulk degradation system that is found ubiquitously in eukaryotes. Autophagy is responsible for the degradation of most long-lived proteins and some organelles. Cytoplasmic constituents, including organelles, are sequestered into double-membraned autophagosomes, which subsequently fuse with lysosomes where their contents are degraded. This system has been implicated in various physiological processes including protein and organelle turnover, the starvation response, cellular differentiation, cell death, and pathogenesis. However, methods for monitoring autophagy have been very limited and unsatisfactory. The most standard method is conventional electron microscopy. In addition, some biochemical methods have been utilized to measure autophagic activity. Recently, the molecular basis of autophagosome formation has been extensively studied using yeast cells; these studies have provided useful marker proteins for autophagosomes. Importantly, most of these proteins are conserved in mammals. Using these probes, we can now specifically monitor autophagic activity.
自噬是一种在真核生物中普遍存在的细胞内大量降解系统。自噬负责大多数长寿蛋白和一些细胞器的降解。包括细胞器在内的细胞质成分被隔离到双膜自噬体中，随后自噬体与溶酶体融合，其内容物在溶酶体中被降解。该系统涉及多种生理过程，包括蛋白质和细胞器更新、饥饿反应、细胞分化、细胞死亡和发病机制。然而，监测自噬的方法非常有限且不尽人意。最标准的方法是传统电子显微镜。此外，一些生化方法已被用于测量自噬活性。最近，利用酵母细胞对自噬体形成的分子基础进行了广泛研究；这些研究为自噬体提供了有用的标记蛋白。重要的是，这些蛋白中的大多数在哺乳动物中是保守的。利用这些探针，我们现在可以特异性地监测自噬活性。
