The role of the Atg2 protein in tethering pre-autophagosomal membranes to the endoplasmic reticulum

Postdoctoral Researcher Tetsuya Kotani, Associate Professor Hitoshi Nakatogawa, Honorary Professor Yoshinori Ohsumi and colleagues at Tokyo Institute of Technology have analyzed the Atg protein1 Atg2, whose function had been completely unknown, and have discovered that Atg2 tethers the pre-autophagosomal membrane to the endoplasmic reticulum during autophagosome formation.