Mechanisms of Autophagy.

The formation of the autophagosome, a landmark event in autophagy, is accomplished by the concerted actions of Atg proteins. The initial step of starvation-induced autophagy in yeast is the assembly of the Atg1 complex, which, with the help of other Atg groups, recruits Atg conjugation systems and initiates the formation of the autophagosome. In this review, we describe from a structural-biological point of view the structure, interaction, and molecular roles of Atg proteins, especially those in the Atg1 complex and in the Atg conjugation systems.