Autophagy : from phenomenology to molecular understanding in less than a decade

| In 2000, it was suggested to me that “Autophagy will be the wave of the future; it will become the new apoptosis.” Few people would have agreed at the time, but this statement turned out to be prophetic, and this process of ‘self-eating’ rapidly exploded as a research field, as scientists discovered connections to cancer, neurodegeneration and even lifespan extension. Amazingly, the molecular breakthroughs in autophagy have taken place during only the past decade. NATure revIeWS | molecular cell biology ADvANCe ONLINe PuBLICATION | PersPectIves Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology | AOP, published online 22 August 2007; doi:10.1038/nrm2245 © 2007 Nature Publishing Group Phagophore Autophagosome Autolysosome Permease Endocytosis (heterophagy) Endosome Amphisome