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Chaperone-mediated autophagy: Dice's 'wild' idea about lysosomal selectivity

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology volume 12, pages 535–541 (2011)Cite this article

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Abstract

A little over 1 year ago, we lost a bright scientist and a dear colleague who, in his younger years, proposed the 'heretical' idea that lysosomes could selectively degrade cytosolic proteins. That scientist was J. Fred Dice, and his lifetime's discovery was the degradative pathway that we now know as chaperone-mediated autophagy.

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Figure 1: J. Fred Dice.
Figure 2: Distinct types of autophagy.
Figure 3: Early key findings in support of selective lysosomal degradation of cytosolic proteins.
Figure 4: Current mechanistic model for chaperone-mediated autophagy.

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Acknowledgements

I want first to apologize for taking more than a year to find the strength to write about Paulo. I initially took this assignment the wrong way, as if I was closing a chapter that I did not want to end. But, thanks to the support of the members of the autophagy field, I came to realize that Paulo's legacy is too rich to not pass along and that I should feel privileged for being allowed to be the storyteller. My deepest thank you to all the numerous colleagues who have shared their memories of Paulo with me and the other members of the Dice laboratory, as well as the Physiology Department at Tufts University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, during the last year and a half. And of course, there are no words that could express my gratitude to the man with the 'wild' idea who started it all. My dear Paulo, it has been an honour, a privilege and a joy!

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  1. Ana Maria Cuervo is at the Department of Developmental and Molecular Biology, Marion Bessin Liver Research Center and Institute for Aging Studies, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1300 Morris Park Avenue, Chanin Bldg. 504, Bronx, New York 10461, USA. ana-maria.cuervo@einstein.yu.edu,

    Ana Maria Cuervo

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Cuervo, A. Chaperone-mediated autophagy: Dice's 'wild' idea about lysosomal selectivity. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 12, 535–541 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm3150

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