Evidence for ESCRT- and clathrin-dependent microautophagy

Microautophagy refers to a mode of autophagy in which the lysosomal or vacuolar membrane invaginates and directly engulfs target components. The molecular machinery of membrane dynamics driving microautophagy is still elusive. Using immunochemical monitoring of yeast vacuolar transmembrane proteins, Vph1 and Pho8, fused to fluorescent proteins, we obtained evidence showing an induction of microautophagy after a diauxic shift in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Components of the endosomal sorting complex required for transport machinery were found to be required for this process, and the gateway protein of the machinery, Vps27, was observed to change its localization onto the vacuolar membrane after a diauxic shift. We revealed the functional importance of Vps27’s interaction with clathrin in this microautophagy that also contributed to uptake of lipid droplets into the vacuole. This study sheds light on the molecular mechanism of microautophagy, which does not require the core Atg proteins.