Figure 3.

Autophagy plays essential roles during the mammalian life cycle. Representative research publications documenting the physiological roles of autophagy are summarized, according to development stage. These studies span from fertilization, cleavage, implantation, foetal development and postnatal development, to the next generation of gametogenesis, indicating that autophagy has important functions during the whole mammalian life cycle. ESC, embryonic stem cell; iPSC, induced pluripotent stem cell.