Abstract
Autophagy is a process of intracellular self-recycling and degradation that plays an important role in maintaining cell homeostasis. However, the molecular mechanism of autophagy remains to be further studied. Mitochondria-associated endoplasmic reticulum membranes (MAMs) are the region of the ER that mediate communication between the ER and mitochondria. MAMs have been demonstrated to be involved in autophagy, Ca2+ transport and lipid metabolism. Here, we discuss the composition and function of MAMs, more specifically, to emphasize the role of MAMs in regulating autophagy. Finally, some key information that may be useful for future research is summarized.
Highlights
Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved cellular process by which damaged organelles and excess proteins are degraded, and the decomposition products are recycled back to the cytoplasm (Mizushima and Komatsu, 2011; Kim and Lee, 2014; Onorati et al, 2018; Yang and Klionsky, 2020)
Since the Mitochondria-associated endoplasmic reticulum membranes (MAMs) are the signal communication platform, it mainly relies on proteins to perform its various functions, and the proteins located in MAMs are grouped according to their primary functions, for instance, Ca2+ transport: inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate receptor (IP3R) and voltage-dependent anion channel (VDAC1) (Tubbs et al, 2014; D’Eletto et al, 2018); lipid metabolism: acyl coenzyme A-cholesterol acyltransferase (ACAT) (Rusinol et al, 1994), acyl CoA:diacylgycerol acyltransferase 2 (DGAT2) (Stone et al, 2009); autophagy: autophagy related 14 (ATG14), autophagy related 5 (ATG5) (Hamasaki et al, 2013); and insulin signaling: protein kinase B (PKB), mammalian target of rapamycin complex (Betz et al, 2013; Rieusset, 2017)
ER-mitochondria encounter structure (ERMES) is the ERmitochondria coupling complex in yeast that assembles via the maintenance of mitochondrial morphology 1 (Mmm1)-mitochondrial distribution and morphology protein 12 (Mdm12)-Mdm34/Mdm10 interaction (Kawano et al, 2018)
Summary
Autophagy is a process of intracellular self-recycling and degradation that plays an important role in maintaining cell homeostasis. The molecular mechanism of autophagy remains to be further studied. Mitochondria-associated endoplasmic reticulum membranes (MAMs) are the region of the ER that mediate communication between the ER and mitochondria. MAMs have been demonstrated to be involved in autophagy, Ca2+ transport and lipid metabolism. We discuss the composition and function of MAMs, to emphasize the role of MAMs in regulating autophagy. Some key information that may be useful for future research is summarized
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