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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2012 Jul 1.
Published in final edited form as: Neurobiol Dis. 2010 Jul 17;43(1):29–37. doi: 10.1016/j.nbd.2010.07.006

Figure 1. Chaperone-mediated autophagy in the context of mammalian autophagy.

Figure 1

Macroautophagy, microautophagy and chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA) are the principal forms of lysosomal degradation. In contrast to the sequestration of cytosol that occurs in the two former pathways, in CMA cytosolic substrate proteins are degraded one by one. CMA substrates are recognized by a cytosolic chaperone (hsc70) and its co-chaperones. This complex is targeted to the lysosome-associated membrane protein type 2A (LAMP-2A), the lysosomal receptor for this pathway. After unfolding, substrate proteins cross the lysosomal membrane assisted by a luminal chaperone (Lys-hsc70) and are rapidly degraded.