Analyses of a novel type of autophagy

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24680038
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (A)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Neuroscience in general
• Research Institution: National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry
• Principal Investigator: Kabuta Tomohiro 国立研究開発法人国立精神・神経医療研究センター, 神経研究所 疾病研究第四部, 室長 (70535765)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: リソソーム / オートファジー / RNA分解 / 選択的オートファジー / RNautophagy / DNautophagy / SIDT2

Outline of Final Research Achievements

A proper intracellular degradation of biological macromolecules is essential for the maintenance of biological homeostasis. Dysfunction of the degradation systems is thought to be involved in various diseases, such as neurodegenerative disorders. Therefore, it is important to clarify intracellular degradation systems. In this study, we discovered a novel degradation system, RNautophagy and DNautophagy, where RNA and DNA are directly taken up by lysosomes in an ATP-dependent manner and degraded, respectively. We also found that one of the physiological functions of RNautophagy is a constitutive degradation of intracellular RNA.

Free Research Field

細胞生物学、生化学