Table 2.

Autophagy genes and neurodevelopment

Gene	Type of gene mutation	Species	Phenotype	Ref
Ambra1	KO	Mouse	Neural tube closure defect; imbalance in neuronal proliferation and differentiation	32
Alfy	KO	Mouse	Abnormal development of interhemispheric axon tracts (corpus callosum, anterior commissure, hippocampal commissure); failure of axons to respond to the axon guidance cue (Netrin-1); midline crossing defects	33
Atg9	Nervous system-specific KO	Mouse	Abnormal development of corpus callosum and anterior commissure	34
Wdr47	KO	Mouse	Abnormal development of corpus callosum	35
Atg1	P-element insertion and imprecise excision of the locus	Drosophila	Defective axonal transport of synaptic vesicle precursors; presynaptic assembly deficits at the neuromuscular junction (NMJ); reduced number of synaptic boutons and smaller size of NMJ	36,37
Atg1, Atg2, Atg18	P-element insertion and imprecise excision of the locus	Drosophila	Presynaptic assembly deficits at NMJ; reduced number of synaptic boutons and smaller size of NMJ	38
Atg9	EMS-induced point mutations	C. elegans	Defective clustering of synaptic vesicles in presynaptic specializations	39
Atg7	Motor neuron-specific KO	Mouse	Accelerated neuromuscular denervation during early development in ALS model mice (SOD[G93A]); non-cell autonomous suppression of ALS-related phenotypes at later stages of disease progression in SOD[G93A] mice	40
Tsc2	Heterozygous KO	Mouse	Developmental spine pruning defects; excessive dendritic spines in cortical pyramidal neurons	41