Table 1.

The functional roles of autophagy in the sexual reproduction of different species.

Organisms	Functions	Autophagy-related genes	Refs
Yeast	Protein or organelle recycling	ATG7	[14,15,52]
	Chromosome segregation	ATG1, ATG7, ATG14	[16]
	Premeiotic DNA replication	ATG12	[32]
C. elegans	P granule degradation	epg-2, epg-3, epg-4, epg-5, sepa-1	[35–37]
	Apoptotic cell corpse clearance	bec-1	[39]
	Physiological germline cell death	atg-2, atg-3, atg-5, lgg-1, epg-1, epg-4,	[40]
	Paternal mitochondria removal	atg-7, bec-1, lgg-1, lgg-3, epg-1	[41–43]
Drosophila	Cell death in the ovary	Atg1, Atg7, Atg13, Vps34	[47,48]
	Follicle cell development	Atg1, Atg13	[49]
Arabidopsis thaliana	Pollen germination	ATG6	[50]
Oryza sativa	Nutrient supply in tapetum cells	OsATG7	[51]
Mouse	Testosterone biosynthesis	Atg5, Atg7	[62]
	Ectoplasmic specialization assembly	Atg5, Atg7	[64]
	Acrosome biogenesis	Atg7, Sirt1, Tbc1d20	[69,72,73]
	Spermatid differentiation	Atg7	[74]
	Prevent excessive loss of oocytes	Becn1, Atg7	[76,77]
	Promote progesterone synthesis	Becn1	[83]
	Early embryogenesis	Atg5, Becn1	[84,85]
	Organ remodeling	Rb1cc1, Ambra1	[91,92]
	Prevent placental infection	Atg16l1	[98]
	Labor	Atg4c, Atg7	[101]
	Prevent neonatal lethality	Atg3, Atg5, Atg7, Atg9, Atg16l1	[27,53–56]