Figure 3.

Rab7 in macroautophagy, mitophagy and lipophagy: (A) importance of Rab7 in docking, fusion and autophagosome clustering during macroautophagy; (B) Rab7 promotes the growth of the isolation membrane through microtubule associated trafficking but subsequently Rab7 inactivation is necessary for correct shaping of the autophagosomal membrane around mitochondria; and (C) increased Rab7 activation allows autophagy of LDs, a process named lipophagy. The autophagosome fuses with endocytic Rab7-positive degradative compartments to eventually form an autolysosome for lipid degradation.