Thomas J. Melia

TL;DR: These guidelines are presented for the selection and interpretation of methods for use by investigators who aim to examine macroautophagy and related processes, as well as for reviewers who need to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of papers that are focused on these processes.

TL;DR: A fundamental role is demonstrated of the SM protein: to act as a stimulatory subunit of its cognate SNARE fusion machinery, enhancing fusion specificity in a reconstituted system.

TL;DR: Evidence is provided for the involvement of exocytic Q/t-SNAREs in autophagosome formation, acting in the recruitment of key autophagy components to the site of autophagic formation, and in regulating the organization of Atg9 into tubulovesicular clusters.

TL;DR: It is reported here that posttranslational modification of the mutant Huntingtin (Htt) by acetylation at lysine residue 444 facilitates trafficking of mutant Htt into autophagosomes, significantly improves clearance of the mutants protein by macroautophagy, and reverses the toxic effects of mutant huntingtin in primary striatal and cortical neurons and in a transgenic C. elegans model of HD.

TL;DR: It is found that the intracellular pathogen Legionella pneumophila could interfere with autophagy by using the bacterial effector protein RavZ to directly uncouple Atg8 proteins attached to phosphatidylethanolamine on autophagosome membranes, which could not be reconjugated by Atg7 and Atg3.