FIGURE 1.

The biological process of cell autophagy. The initial stages of autophagy involve the nucleation, elongation, and maturation of a separation membrane, commonly known as a phagophore. Then, the formed phagophore unites to form the autophagosome. During the complex process, many protein complexes and autophagy-related proteins are sequentially involved. Eventually, autophagosome fuse with lysosome to form autolysosome, where the captured materials are eliminated. The final biomolecules are recycled back to the cytoplasm.