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. 2016 Jun 1;5:e17185. doi: 10.7554/eLife.17185

Figure 1. Degradation of mitochondria and selected mitochondrial membrane proteins.

Figure 1.

Yeast cells respond to stress and aging by sending a specific set of mitochondrial membrane proteins into the vacuole for degradation (top). This pathway involves the formation of a mitochondrial derived compartment (MDC), a process that is regulated by genes that are required for mitochondrial fission (DNM1 and FIS1). The fusion of the MDC to the vacuole depends on genes that are involved in the late stages of autophagy and mitophagy (ATG5 and VAM3). The MDC degradation pathway is distinct from the process of mitophagy (bottom), which involves the whole mitochondrion being enclosed in a membrane (grey lines) as a result of the activity of a gene called ATG32. The membrane-enclosed mitochondrion is then transported to the vacuole, where it is degraded.