Selective Autophagy in Drosophila

Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved process of cellular self-eating and is a major pathway for degradation of cytoplasmic material by the lysosomal machinery. Autophagy functions as a cellular response in nutrient starvation, but it is also associated with the removal of protein aggregates and damaged organelles and therefore plays an important role in the quality control of proteins and organelles. Although it was initially believed that autophagy occurs randomly in the cell, during the last years, there is growing evidence that sequestration and degradation of cytoplasmic material by autophagy can be selective. Given the important role of autophagy and selective autophagy in several disease-related processes such as neurodegeneration, infections, and tumorigenesis, it is important to understand the molecular mechanisms of selective autophagy, especially at the organismal level. Drosophila is an excellent genetically modifiable model organism exhibiting high conservation in the autophagic machinery. However, the regulation and mechanisms of selective autophagy in Drosophila have been largely unexplored. In this paper, I will present an overview of the current knowledge about selective autophagy in Drosophila.