Curvature-sensitive trans-assembly of human Atg8-family proteins in autophagy-related membrane tethering

In macroautophagy, de novo formation of the double membrane-bound organelles, termed autophagosomes, is essential for engulfing and sequestering the cytoplasmic contents to be degraded in the lytic compartments such as vacuoles and lysosomes. Atg8-family proteins have been known to be responsible for autophagosome formation via membrane tethering and fusion events of precursor membrane structures. Nevertheless, how Atg8 proteins act directly upon autophagosome formation still remains enigmatic. Here, to further gain molecular insights into Atg8-mediated autophagic membrane dynamics, we study the two representative human Atg8 orthologs, LC3B and GATE-16, by quantitatively evaluating their intrinsic potency to physically tether lipid membranes in a chemically defined reconstitution system using purified Atg8 proteins and synthetic liposomes. Both LC3B and GATE-16 retained the capacities to trigger efficient membrane tethering at the protein-to-lipid molar ratios ranging from 1:100 to 1:5,000. These human Atg8-mediated membrane-tethering reactions require trans-assembly between the membrane-anchored forms of LC3B and GATE-16 and can be reversibly and strictly controlled by the membrane attachment and detachment cycles. Strikingly, we further uncovered distinct membrane curvature dependences of LC3B- and GATE-16-mediated membrane tethering reactions: LC3B can drive tethering more efficiently than GATE-16 for highly curved small vesicles (e.g., 50 nm in diameter), although GATE-16 turns out to be a more potent tether than LC3B for flatter large vesicles (e.g., 200 and 400 nm in diameter). Our findings establish curvature-sensitive trans-assembly of human Atg8-family proteins in reconstituted membrane tethering, which recapitulates an essential subreaction of the biogenesis of autophagosomes in vivo.