Title:Ca<sup>2+</sup>–Sensor Proteins in the Autophagic and Endocytic Traffic
VOLUME: 14 ISSUE: 2
Author(s):Ghita Ghislat and Erwin Knecht
Affiliation:Centro de Investigacion Principe Felipe, C⁄ Eduardo Primo Yufera 3, Valencia 46012, Spain.
Keywords:Autophagy, calcium, endocytosis, lysosomes, membrane fusion
Abstract:Autophagy and endocytosis are two evolutionarily conserved catabolic processes that comprise vesicle trafficking
events for the clearance of the sequestered intracellular and extracellular cargo. Both start differently but end in the
same compartment, the lysosome. Mounting evidences from the last years have established the involvement of proteins
sensitive to intracellular Ca2+ in the control of the early autophagic steps and in the traffic of autophagic, endocytic and
lysosomal vesicles. However, this knowledge is based on dispersed outcomes that do not set up a consensus model of the
Ca2+–dependent control of autophagy and endocytosis. Here, we will provide a critical synopsis of insights from the last
decade on the involvement of Ca2+–sensor proteins in the activation of autophagy and in fusion events of endocytic
vesicles, autophagosomes and lysosomes.
