The Ume6-Sin3-Rpd3 complex regulates ATG8 transcription to control autophagosome size.

The vast majority of studies addressing the induction of autophagy have focused upon cytoplasmic aspects of its regulation. Recently, we have started to expand our knowledge regarding the nuclear events of autophagic induction. Many autophagy-related genes are transcriptionally upregulated upon induction of autophagy, but only in a limited number of cases do we know the pathways leading to this upregulation. Few transcription factors have been implicated in controlling autophagy genes in yeast. However, many of the ATG genes show some level of transcriptional induction upon starvation. Now, we show that transcription of ATG8 is repressed under growing conditions by the Ume6-Sin3-Rpd3 complex.