Figure 3.

Schematic representation of mitophagy. Mitophagy ensures the selective degradation of dysfunctional mitochondria through specialized autophagy. The process begins with the formation of a double-layered membrane (phagophore) around the organelles to be degraded. By growing in size, the phagophore progressively engulfs the cargo, forming an autophagosome. The subsequent autophagosome fusion with lysosomes generates an autolysosome wherein the cargo is digested. PINK1, PTEN-induced putative kinase 1.