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Determination of the Residues Necessary for the Self‐Interaction of Atg11, a Central Organizer of the Selective Autophagy Initiation Complex
Author(s) -
Spearin Zach,
Cawthon Hayley,
Smith Jesse,
Backues Steven K
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.31.1_supplement.601.9
Subject(s) - autophagy , microbiology and biotechnology , autophagosome , mitophagy , vacuole , bag3 , lysosome , chemistry , biology , biochemistry , cytoplasm , apoptosis , enzyme
Selective autophagy is a process used by eukaryotes to rid the cell of potentially harmful intracellular content such as damaged mitochondria and toxic protein aggregates. The cell forms a double membrane known as an autophagosome around these targets and transports them to the vacuole/lysosome to be degraded. This process helps to maintain the health of the cell and protects against diseases including Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. Our research uses budding yeast to investigate the basic mechanisms by which autophagy related (Atg) proteins control this process. Atg11, a protein essential for selective autophagy, interacts with other proteins using its second and third coiled‐coil (CC2–3) regions and organizes them into an autophagy initiation complex. These interacting proteins include Atg9, Atg20, Atg29, Atg1, Ypt1, and itself. However, it is not known how these partners are organized ‐ for example, are all of these proteins binding at the same time, or do they compete for binding to the same location on Atg11? Moreover, the role of Atg11's self‐interaction in this process is not known. The goal of this research is to determine which amino acid residues of Atg11 are required for its self‐interaction using a random mutagenesis/yeast two hybrid screen. This will help us better understand the significance of Atg11's self‐interaction in the initiation of selective autophagy. Support or Funding Information NSF RUI grant #1613653 ““Scaffold or Assembly Line: How Does Atg11 Organize its Binding Partners for the Initiation of Selective Autophagy?”, S. K. Backues (PI)