LC3 and GATE-16/GABARAP subfamilies are both essential yet act differently in autophagosome biogenesis

Hilla Weidberg, Elena Shvets, Tomer Shpilka, Frida Shimron, Vera Shinder, Zvulun Elazar*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

620 Scopus citations

Abstract

Autophagy, a critical process for bulk degradation of proteins and organelles, requires conjugation of Atg8 proteins to phosphatidylethanolamine on the autophagic membrane. At least eight different Atg8 orthologs belonging to two subfamilies (LC3 and GATE-16/GABARAP) occur in mammalian cells, but their individual roles and modes of action are largely unknown. In this study, we dissect the activity of each subfamily and show that both are indispensable for the autophagic process in mammalian cells. We further show that both subfamilies act differently at early stages of autophagosome biogenesis. Accordingly, our results indicate that LC3s are involved in elongation of the phagophore membrane whereas the GABARAP/GATE-16 subfamily is essential for a later stage in autophagosome maturation.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1792-1802
Number of pages11
JournalEMBO Journal
Volume29
Issue number11
DOIs
StatePublished - 2 Jun 2010
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Atg8
  • Autophagy
  • GABARAP
  • GATE-16
  • LC3

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