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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Oct 1.
Published in final edited form as: Curr Opin Insect Sci. 2015 Oct 1;11:31–38. doi: 10.1016/j.cois.2015.08.003

Figure 4.

Figure 4

The role of programmed autophagy in vitellogenesis. Vg synthesis is stimulated by AA/TOR and ecdysone pathways in the female mosquito A. aegypti fat body (FB). When active, TOR blocks FB autophagy by repressing the initiator of autophagy, Autophagy related 1 (ATG1) [25*]. Reduced TOR signaling is no more inhibiting ATG1 during the terminal phase of the vitellogenesis; instead, ATG1 is suppressing TOR and initiates autophagy. Fat body remodeling during terminal phase of vitellogenesis is a necessary step for the second gonadotropic cycle to occur. During the fat body remodeling, FB cell cytoplasm is being enclosed into autophagosomes, which fuse with lysosomes to become autolysosomes that digest their content into basic nutrients. Thus, autophagy allows lowering energetic costs until the next gonadotrophic cycle. 20E = 20-Hydroxyecdysone