Autophagy, the process by which damaged or potentially cytotoxic cytosolic components are removed and destroyed by lysosomes, occurs to varying extents in all cells. Mitophagy describes an autophagic response that specifically targets damaged cytotoxic mitochondria for removal. This aggressive defense-first policy ("parking the bus" in footballing terms) serves to protect the intracellular environment from cytotoxic mitochondrial components and maintain intracellular homeostasis. While mitophagy pathways have been extensively studied (Harper et al, 2018), precisely how the selective removal of a damaged mitochondrion is achieved in healthy cells, as well as in cells exposed to high oxidative stress conditions, remains unclear. Work from Lee and colleagues (Lee et al, 2019) has evaluated the molecular basis of mitophagy in platelets and has outlined some new molecular events that help control this process.
© 2019 The Authors. Published under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license.