Fig. 7
Overview of autophagy in cells. Autophagy is activated through starvation signals stimulating Akt and thus inactivating mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) by detaching it from the uncoordinated 51-like kinase (ULK) complex which in turn activates the ULK complex. Beclin-1 is subsequently activated recruiting Atg proteins necessary for autophagosome formation. These Atg proteins aid in employing and converting LC3-I to LC3-II by conjugation to phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) and Atg3 and 7. Upon the formation of the autophagosome, it fuses with lysosomes forming the autolysosome, wherein breakdown of the cargo takes place to recycle amino acids and fatty acid for further energy generation (produced with Microsoft® PowerPoint®) [69, 70]