Macroautophagy  is a degradative process of cellular components that has been conserved in eukaryotic evolution. In certain circumstances, like starvation or cellular stress, parts of the cytoplasm are included in double membrane vesicles called autophagosomes that fuse later to lysosomes where they are degraded. Autophagy  is also induced in other circumstances like the elimination of protein aggregations, organelles or bacteria and it is therefore of  immense importance in diverse pathological processes as well as in aging. We have identified Vmp1 as a new protein involved in autophagy and its role in the origin of autophagosomes.

We use an integrated approach that combines biochemistry, genetics and cell biology in the experimental model Dictyostelium discoideum and mammalian cells  to identify and characterize new conserved proteins of unknown function involved in autophagy.

Autophagosomes at different degree of maturation in a Dictyostelium cell

Autophagy, the cell´s broom

Detection of autophagosomes in Dictyostelium and and human HELA cells

The autophagic machinery. The ongoing proteome studies allow the identification of new autophagic proteins