Premium
Vienna special issue: Molecular machines
Author(s) -
Feldmann Horst,
Marlovits Thomas C.,
Superti-Furga Giulio
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - Uncategorized
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/j.febslet.2007.05.061
Subject(s) - autophagy , atg5 , microbiology and biotechnology , intracellular , embryonic stem cell , cell culture , fibroblast , chemistry , biology , apoptosis , biochemistry , genetics , gene
Autophagy is an intracellular bulk degradation system. We established mouse fibroblast lines coupling the Tet-off system with an Atg5-/- mouse embryonic fibroblast line to artificially regulate autophagic ability. In the presence of doxycycline (Dox), Atg5 expression was completely suppressed and these cells were autophagy-defective. After removal of Dox, autophagic ability was restored within 6 h. Very low levels of Atg5 could induce an autophagy competent state. We applied this novel system to examine the contribution of autophagy to controlling cell size. Cell size reduction in response to starvation was significantly inhibited in cells unable to undergo autophagy. The generated cell lines will be useful reagents for future mechanistic studies into the regulation and physiologic significance of autophagy.