Figure 1.

Autophagy is a defense mechanism against infection. After phagocytosis, invasive bacteria, such as S. typhimurium or Mycobacterium tuberculosis, escape the phagosome through the action of virulence factors. Once released into the cytoplasm, bacteria are targeted by the host ubiquitination machinery, which enables the interaction with autophagy receptors p62, NDP52, and optineurin and the recruitment of bacteria to preformed LC3‐labeled autophagosomes. Fusion of mature autophagosomes with lysosomes leads to autophagic degradation of bacteria.