Histone post-translational modifications regulate autophagy flux and outcome

Abstract

Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved process in eukaryotes by which cytoplasmic components including macromolecules and organelles are degraded by the lysosome/vacuole. Autophagy is implicated in a number of physiological processes important for human health and disease. Although primarily cytoprotective, autophagy can also contribute to cell death; it is thus important to understand what distinguishes the life or death decision in autophagic cells. Despite the fact that the execution of autophagy includes a unique set of cytoplasmic events, nuclear events, in particular transcriptional programs, have emerged as an important regulator of this process. In addition, a critical linkage was recently unveiled between specific histone posttranslational modifications and the transcriptional regulation of autophagy-related genes, which initiates a regulatory feedback loop, and serves as a key determinant of survival versus death responses upon autophagy induction.

Keywords: :

• autophagic flux
• cell death
• histone H4 lysine 16 acetylation (H4K16ac)
• hMOF
• KAT8
• MYST1
• SIRT1

This article refers to:

10.4161/auto.25803

Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest

No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.