Fig. 3.

Autophagy and the functional interactions among the genes in the ROA pathway. Basically, the autophagic process can be divided into three stages: vesicle nucleation, vesicle elongation and completion, and vesicle breakdown and degradation. ATG1, ULK, ATG6 (Beclin1), PIK3R4 (VPS15), and lipid kinase PIK3C3 (VPS34) are key proteins that mediate vesicle nucleation. AMPK and IFNs are important upstream regulators of autophagy. Many other ATG proteins, such as ATG3, ATG5, ATG7, ATG8, and ATG12, play important roles in elongation of the phagophore and formation of the autophagosome.