What does autophagy mean?
Q: What does autophagy mean?
A: Autophagy means "eating itself".
Q: What is the purpose of autophagy?
A: The purpose of autophagy is to allow the controlled breaking down of cell parts which do not work, or are not needed.
Q: How are cell parts broken down through autophagy?
A: Targeted cell parts may be isolated from the rest of the cell in an autophagosome, which fuses with lysosomes and the contents are broken down and recycled.
Q: In what extreme case does the breakdown of cellular components promote cellular survival?
A: In the extreme case of starvation, the breakdown of cellular components promotes cellular survival by maintaining cellular energy levels.
Q: Who coined the term "autophagy" and when?
A: Belgian biochemist Christian de Duve coined the term "autophagy" in 1963.
Q: When were autophagy-related genes identified in yeast?
A: Autophagy-related genes in yeast were identified in the 1990s.
Q: Who was awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work on autophagy?
A: Japanese researcher Yoshinori Ohsumi was awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on autophagy.
