14-3-3ζ binds class III phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase and inhibits autophagy.

Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved pathway involved in a great variety of physiological roles such as starvation adaptation, elimination of microorganisms, and intracellular protein and organelle clearance. It seems clear that autophagy is strictly controlled because of the multiplicity of its functions and thus, autophagy components are finely regulated. Here, 14-3-3ζ protein has been shown as negative regulator of autophagy by association and inactivation of the vesicle nucleation component vacuolar protein sorting 34 (hVps34), the class III phosphatidylinositol-3- kinase (PI3KC3).