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Mitotic phosphorylation of the ULK complex regulates cell cycle progression

2020; Public Library of Science; Volume: 18; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1371/journal.pbio.3000718

1545-7885

Akinori Yamasaki, Yui Jin, Yoshinori Ohsumi,

Ubiquitin and proteasome pathways

Autophagy is an intracellular degradation pathway targeting organelles and macromolecules, thereby regulating various cellular functions. Phosphorylation is a key posttranscriptional protein modification implicated in the regulation of biological function including autophagy. Under asynchronous conditions, autophagy activity is predominantly suppressed by mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) kinase, but whether autophagy-related genes (ATG) proteins are phosphorylated differentially throughout the sequential phases of the cell cycle remains unclear. In this issue, Li and colleagues report that cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (CDK1) phosphorylates the ULK complex during mitosis. This phosphorylation induces autophagy and, surprisingly, is shown to drive cell cycle progression. This work reveals a yet-unappreciated role for autophagy in cell cycle progression and enhances our understanding of the specific phase-dependent autophagy regulation during cellular growth and proliferation.