Table II.
The functions of autophagy in mammalian systems.
| Organs | Functions | Autophagy-related gene or protein changes | Selected references |
|---|---|---|---|
| The male reproductive system | Testosterone biosynthesis | Atg5/7↓ | Gao et al. (2018) and Ma et al. (2018) |
| Acrosome biogenesis | Atg7, Sirt1, Tbc1d20↓ | Liu et al. (2017), Sidjanin et al. (2016) and Wang et al. (2014) | |
| Spermiogenesis | Atg7↓ | Shang et al. (2016) | |
| Ectoplasmic specialization | Atg5/7↓ | Liu et al. (2016) | |
| Androgen binding protein metabolism | Atg7, mTOR↓ | Ma et al. (2015) | |
| The female reproductive system | Preventing excessive loss of oocytes in the neonatal ovaries | Beclin 1, Atg7↓ | Gawriluk et al. (2011) and Song et al. (2015) |
| Promoting progesterone synthesis | Beclin 1↓ | Gawriluk et al. (2014) | |
| Follicle atresia | LC3-II/LC3-I↑ | Choi et al. (2011) and Serke et al. (2009) | |
| Embryogenesis | Preimplantation development/protein synthesis | Atg5, Beclin 1↓ | Tsukamoto et al. (2008) and Yue et al. (2003) |
| Nervous system development | Ambra1↓ | Fimia et al. (2007) | |
| Preventing neonatal lethality/survival during neonatal starvation | Atg3/5/7/8/9a/16L1↓ | Komatsu et al. (2005), Kuma et al. (2004), Saitoh et al. (2008, 2009), Sou et al. (2008) and Yoshii et al. (2016) | |
| Placenta | Preventing placental infection and preterm labor | LC3-II/LC3-I, Atg4/7/16L1↑ and p62↓ | Agrawal et al. (2015) and Cao et al. (2016) |
| Liver | Constitutive turnover of cytoplasmic components | Atg7↓ | Komatsu et al. (2005) |
| Brain | Regulating food intake and energy balance | Atg7↓ | Kaushik et al. (2011) |
| Metabolic regulation/central control of feeding, energy and body weight balance | Atg5/7, LC3-II/LC3-I↓ | Meng and Cai (2011) | |
| Prevent neurodegenerative disease | Atg5/7, LC3-II/LC3-I, Atg12↓ | Hara et al. (2006) and Komatsu et al. (2006) | |
| Axonal homeostasis | Atg5/7↓ | Komatsu et al. (2007) and Nishiyama et al. (2007) | |
| Atg9, ULK1, Beclin 1, LC3-II↓ | Ko et al. (2020) | ||
| Heart | Maintaining cardiomyocyte size and global cardiac structure and function/adaption to hemodynamic stress | Atg5/7, LC3-II/LC3-I↓ and p62↑ | Nakai et al. (2007) |
| Angiogenesis | Beclin 1, Atg5, LC3-II/LC3-I ↓ and p62↑ | Lu et al. (2016) | |
| Skeletal Muscle | Preserving muscle mass and to maintain myofiber integrity | Atg7↓ | Masiero et al. (2009) |
| Intestine | Maintaining Paneth cells function | Atg5/16L1↓ | Cadwell et al. (2008) |
| Pancreas | Maintaining pancreatic β-cell volume and function | Atg7↓ | Ebato et al. (2008) and Jung et al. (2008) |
| Adaption to high-fat diet | Atg7↓ | Ebato et al. (2008) | |
| Kidney | Maintaining podocyte integrity | Atg5↓ | Hartleben et al. (2010) |
| Maintaining proximal tubule cell homeostasis and protecting against ischemic injury | Atg5↓ | Kimura et al. (2011) |
mTOR, mammalian target of rapamycin.