Experimental determination and mathematical modeling of standard shapes of forming autophagosomes

Yuji Sakai (), Satoru Takahashi, Ikuko Koyama-Honda, Chieko Saito and Noboru Mizushima ()
Additional contact information
Yuji Sakai: The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku
Satoru Takahashi: The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku
Ikuko Koyama-Honda: The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku
Chieko Saito: The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku
Noboru Mizushima: The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract The formation of autophagosomes involves dynamic morphological changes of a phagophore from a flat membrane cisterna into a cup-shaped intermediate and a spherical autophagosome. However, the physical mechanism behind these morphological changes remains elusive. Here, we determine the average shapes of phagophores by statistically investigating three-dimensional electron micrographs of more than 100 phagophores. The results show that the cup-shaped structures adopt a characteristic morphology; they are longitudinally elongated, and the rim is catenoidal with an outwardly recurved shape. To understand these characteristic shapes, we establish a theoretical model of the shape of entire phagophores. The model quantitatively reproduces the average morphology and reveals that the characteristic shape of phagophores is primarily determined by the relative size of the open rim to the total surface area. These results suggest that the seemingly complex morphological changes during autophagosome formation follow a stable path determined by elastic bending energy minimization.

Date: 2024
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-44442-1 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-44442-1

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-44442-1

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().