epg-1 functions in autophagy-regulated processes and may encode a highly divergent Atg13 homolog in C. elegans.

Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved intracellular catabolic system for degradation of long-lived proteins or damaged organelles. In this study, we have identified and characterized a new gene, epg-1, that plays a role in the autophagy pathway in C. elegans. Loss of function of epg-1 causes defects in various autophagy-regulated processes, including degradation of aggregate-prone proteins and optimal survival of animals during starvation. epg-1 encodes a novel protein that shows limited sequence similarity to the yeast autophagy protein Atg13. epg-1 displays a similar expression pattern to, and directly interacts with, the C. elegans Atg1 homolog UNC-51, suggesting that epg-1 encodes a divergent functional homolog of Atg13 in C. elegans.