Autophagy in Lepidoptera: more than old wine in new bottle

Authors

  • G Tettamanti Department of Biotechnology and Molecular Sciences, University of Insubria, 21100 Varese, Italy
  • Y Cao Laboratory of Insect Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Agro-animal Genomics and Molecular Breeding, College of Animal Science, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642, China
  • Q Feng School of Life Sciences, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China
  • A Grimaldi Department of Biotechnology and Molecular Sciences, University of Insubria, 21100 Varese, Italy
  • M de Eguileor Department of Biotechnology and Molecular Sciences, University of Insubria, 21100 Varese, Italy

Keywords:

autophagy, Lepidoptera, Bombyx mori, ATG genes, apoptosis

Abstract

Autophagy is a cellular pathway that leads to the degradation of proteins and organelles. This
process is usually involved in the maintenance of cell homeostasis when the organism experiences nutrient starvation, but in holometabolous insects autophagy also intervenes in the demolition of larval tissues and organs during metamorphosis. This review summarizes the current knowledge about autophagy research in Lepidoptera and discusses the use of moths and butterflies as models for studying the roles and regulation of autophagy. It also gives insights into the cooperation between autophagy and apoptosis in cell death events that occur in lepidopteran in vivo and in vitro systems.

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Published

2010-12-17

Issue

Vol. 8 No. 1 (2011)

Section

Review