Abstract: | ["Autophagy is a bulk degradation system conserved among most eukaryotes. It serves to ensure cellular homeostasis, and plays crucial roles during nutrient limiting conditions and the cellular response to stress conditions, as well as in embryonic development and the defense against several pathogens. Not surprisingly, defects in autophagy pathways have been associated with numerous human pathologies, including neurodegeneration and cancer. Despite these fundamental functions, the cellular signals that induce or restrict autophagy, and the mechanisms that spatially and temporally act to ensure cargo selection remain poorly understood.\r\nAtg1 (ULK1) is a conserved serine-threonine kinase that is essential for autophagy function from yeast to mammals. Epistasis analyses revealed that Atg1 functions upstream of cargo selection and autophagosome formation. Several lines of evidence suggest that Atg1 is a key regulator of this pathway, however little is known about its targets and the means by which it controls autophagy. We screened for Atg1 kinase substrates using consensus peptide arrays to better understand the function and regulation of this important kinase."] |