Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi

New Delhi, Dec 19: Scientists at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) have discovered a surprising contributor to autophagy, the cell’s “self-eating” process that clears damaged components and is essential for cellular health. This finding could pave the way for new treatments for neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, as well as certain cancers.

Autophagy is a vital cellular mechanism that removes damaged organelles and protein aggregates. When this process falters, cell health suffers, particularly in long-lived neurons. In cancer, autophagy plays a dual role: it can suppress tumor formation by maintaining genomic integrity, yet some cancer cells exploit it to survive and grow. Understanding its regulation is therefore critical for developing effective therapies.

The JNCASR team, led by Prof. Ravi Manjithaya, identified the exocyst complex — a group of eight proteins previously known for transporting molecules to the cell surface — as a key player in autophagy. Remarkably, seven of the eight proteins are necessary for forming autophagosomes, the cellular “trash bags” that envelop waste. Without the exocyst complex, cells fail to form functional autophagosomes, impairing the cell’s waste-clearing machinery.

Using yeast cells as a model, the researchers demonstrated how the exocyst complex facilitates autophagosome formation, offering insights into the process in higher organisms. Their study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, sheds light on the dual role of autophagy in health and disease and suggests new strategies to modulate this pathway for therapeutic purposes.

This discovery highlights the importance of understanding cellular cleanup mechanisms and may lead to novel interventions for diseases where autophagy is disrupted.