FIGURE 1.

Phase separation mediates autophagy substrates assembly. Upper panel, overview of autophagy process, including phagophore nucleation and expansion, autophagosome formation, fusion between autophagosome and lysosome. Lower panel, three representative autophagy substrates across species assemble through phase separation. In yeast, Ape1 dodecamers form droplets by phase separation, then the receptor Atg19 is recruited, which in turn recruits Atg11. In C. elegans, PGL-1 and PGL-3 phase separated into gel-like condensates in somatic cells. In mammals, multivalent interactions between p62 and polyubiquitin drive p62 condensates formation. NBR-1 promotes p62 phase separation and recruits TAX1BP1, which cooperate for the FIP200 recruitment.