A second report from the EMBO conference on autophagy: mechanism, regulation and selectivity of autophagy.

Some key questions being examined in the field of autophagy concern the origin of the membrane that forms the sequestering vesicle, the function of the related machinery, including the identification of new components and binding partners of previously identified autophagy-related proteins and the mechanism of autophagic selectivity. Another general area of intense focus pertains to the physiological role of autophagy and its connection with various pathologies including neurodegeneration, muscle wasting and mitochondrially related diseases.