Cell Death and Autophagy: A Historical Perspective

Abstract

Cells have developed several mechanisms to survive stressful conditions such as nutrient deprivation, energy shortage, hypoxia, accumulation of non-functional proteins or toxic molecules. One of these stress responses is a catabolic process termed "autophagy" (Greek for "self eating" ), an evolutionarily conserved mechanism from baker's yeast to man. Basically, macroautophagy (autophagy hereinafter) defines the process by which eukaryotic cells recycle or degrade internal constituents in a membrane-trafficking pathway. Thus, autophagy helps providing the cells with a constant supply of biomolecules and energy for maintenance of homeostasis via recycling of macromolecules under stressful conditions. Intricate connections between autophagy and cell death were reported. In this chapter, we will first summarize landmark findings that led to the appreciation of autophagy as a key cellular mechanism, and then elaborate on the evolution of research on autophagy and cell death.