Fatty acid availability controls autophagy and associated cell functions

Macroautophagy/autophagy requires enormous membrane expansions during concerted actions of transient autophagic vesicles and lysosomes, yet the source of the membrane lipids is poorly understood. Recent work in adipocytes has now pinpointed the de novo lipogenesis pathway as the preferred source of fatty acids for phospholipid in autophagic membrane synthesis, as loss of FASN (fatty acid synthase) disrupts autophagic flux and lysosome function in vivo and in vitro. These data indicate fatty acid synthesis channels lipid for membrane expansions, whereas fatty acids from circulating lipoproteins provide for adipose lipid storage. Importantly, autophagy blockade upon loss of fatty acids promotes a strong thermogenic phenotype in adipocytes, another striking example whereby autophagy controls cell behavior.