ArticleNature cell biology2025
Phase separation of initiation hubs on cargo is a trigger switch for selective autophagy.
Article in Nature cell biology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 25 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed.
- AKAP13 regulates GLI1/ULK1 axis and drive tumor resistance to next-generation HER2-targeted therapies.Oncogene · 2026Article
- The thermodynamic state map of biomolecular condensates.Communications biology · 2026Review
- A New Anatomy of Autophagic Clearance: On the Roles of Intrinsic Disorder in the Membrane-Less on Membrane-Encapsulated Mechanism.Membranes · 2026Review
- The ubiquitin-proteasome system and autophagy as guardians of the cellular proteome.FEBS letters · 2026Review
- Small bites for big problems: stepwise aggregate degradation by autophagy.Biochemical Society transactions · 2026Review
- The Human Autophagy Core Complexes.Annual review of biochemistry · 2026Review
- A ULK1-MTFR1L feedback loop links mitochondrial fission, mitophagy and apoptosis.Journal of cell science · 2026Article
- Liquid-liquid phase separation in cancer therapy resistance.iScience · 2026Review
- Reconstitution of autophagic-like membrane tethering reveals that Atg11 can bind and cluster vesicles on cargo mimetics.Autophagy · 2026Article
- Core principles of autophagy initiation mechanisms.Nature structural & molecular biology · 2026Review
- Role of autophagy in antiviral innate immunity.Cellular & molecular biology letters · 2026Review
- CircADAM9 activates autophagy via miR-302b-3p/ULK1 axis to improve depressive-like behaviors.Biology direct · 2026Article
- Biomolecular condensates as cellular memory modules: Thermodynamic principles and plant stress adaptation.Biophysical journal · 2026Review
- Autophagy in the liver.Autophagy reports · 2026Review
- USP13-Mediated selective autophagy of eIF5B promotes pathological cardiac hypertrophy.Cellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS · 2025Article
- Phase separation and biomolecular condensate formation drive plant endomembrane and autophagy crosstalk.Journal of experimental botany · 2025Review
- Alternative Splicing: Molecular Mechanisms, Biological Functions, Diseases, and Potential Therapeutic Targets.MedComm · 2025Review
- Galectin-3 directs mitophagy in response to Parkin-/proteasome-dependent rupture of mitochondrial outer membrane.Biology direct · 2025Article
- Article
- The autophagy-specific exocyst subcomplex contributes to phagophore assembly site integrity by promoting phagophore expansion.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
21 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Autophagy is a key cellular quality control mechanism. Nutrient stress triggers bulk autophagy, which nonselectively degrades cytoplasmic material upon formation and liquid-liquid phase separation of the autophagy-related gene 1 (Atg1) complex. In contrast, selective autophagy eliminates protein aggregates, damaged organelles and other cargoes that are targeted by an autophagy receptor. Phase separation of cargo has been observed, but its regulation and impact on selective autophagy are poorly understood. Here, we find that key autophagy biogenesis factors phase separate into initiation hubs at cargo surfaces in yeast, subsequently maturing into sites that drive phagophore nucleation. This phase separation is dependent on multivalent, low-affinity interactions between autophagy receptors and cargo, creating a dynamic cargo surface. Notably, high-affinity interactions between autophagy receptors and cargo complexes block initiation hub formation and autophagy progression. Using these principles, we converted the mammalian reovirus nonstructural protein µNS, which accumulates as particles in the yeast cytoplasm that are not degraded, into a neo-cargo that is degraded by selective autophagy. We show that initiation hubs also form on the surface of different cargoes in human cells and are key to establish the connection to the endoplasmic reticulum, where the phagophore assembly site is formed to initiate phagophore biogenesis. Overall, our findings suggest that regulated phase separation underscores the initiation of both bulk and selective autophagy in evolutionarily diverse organisms.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.