A new insight into the lens: cytosolic PLAAT phospholipases degrade organelles to make the lens transparent

Hideaki Morishita; Tomoya Eguchi; Noboru Mizushima

doi:10.1080/15548627.2021.1950372

A new insight into the lens: cytosolic PLAAT phospholipases degrade organelles to make the lens transparent

Autophagy. 2021 Sep;17(9):2645-2647. doi: 10.1080/15548627.2021.1950372. Epub 2021 Jul 7.

Authors

Hideaki Morishita^{1

2}, Tomoya Eguchi¹, Noboru Mizushima¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
² Department of Physiology, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.

Abstract

All membrane-bound organelles are degraded during the terminal differentiation of lens fiber cells. How these organelles are degraded has been a long-standing question in biology. We recently revealed that PLAAT (phospholipase A and acyltransferase)-family phospholipases degrade organelles in the lens independently of macroautophagy. Here, we discuss the mechanism and physiological relevance of this new mode of intracellular degradation.

Keywords: Autophagy; HRASLS; PLA2G16; PLAAT; lens; mice; organelle degradation; phospholipase; zebrafish.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Autophagy
Cytosol
Lens, Crystalline* / metabolism
Organelles / metabolism
Phospholipases* / metabolism

Substances

Phospholipases

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Exploratory Research for Advanced Technology (ERATO; grant [JPMJER1702] to N.M.) from the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST).