Autophagy 'Eats' Portions of Liquid Droplets in Cells (IMAGE)

_Tokyo Institute of Technology

Autophagy 'Eats' Portions of Liquid Droplets in Cells

Caption

A liquid droplet made of phase-separated proteins (magenta) can associate with autophagy membranes (green). In this paper, it was shown that the droplet-membrane interaction depends on wetting and is defined by the surface tension of the droplet. As autophagy membranes expand on the droplet surface, droplets of sufficiently low surface tension are unable to overcome the intrinsic curvature of the membranes and subsequently deform. This results in a subset of the droplet being 'bitten off' by autophagy. The images at the right show this process occurring in a cultured human cell.

Credit

Nature

Usage Restrictions

None

License

Licensed content

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.