Access

News and Views

Nature Cell Biology 9, 1125–1127 (1 October 2007) | doi:10.1038/ncb1007-1125

Shaping membranes into autophagosomes

Muriel Mari & Fulvio Reggiori

Autophagy has been the subject of intense investigation during the past five years and has a vital role in numerous physiological processes such as development, lifespan extension and programmed cell death, and in a wide variety of pathological conditions including neurodegenerative, cardiovascular and muscular diseases, and malignancies. During autophagy, structures that are targeted for destruction are sequestered into large double-membraned vesicles, called autophagosomes, and are delivered to lysosomes where they are degraded (Fig.