Figure 1.

Autophagy pathway. Schematic representation of the autophagy pathway. This complex mechanism is activated by stress signals or starvation and proceeds through a series of steps, including formation of the isolation membrane; membrane nucleation, elongation, and completion of the autophagosome; autophagosome maturation by fusion with a lysosome; and, finally, degradation of autophagic cargoes and recycling of the resulting molecules.