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Nature Cell Biology 10, 505–507 (1 May 2008) | doi:10.1038/ncb0508-505

Starved cells eat ribosomes

Hitoshi Nakatogawa & Yoshinori Ohsumi

Eukaryotic cells are equipped with elaborate mechanisms by which they can survive when starved of nutrients. Autophagy (or macroautophagy), a primary pathway for degradation of the cytoplasm in lysosomes or vacuoles, is induced by nutritional deprivation, and is essential for adaptation of cells to such environmental changes.