Autophagy

Process of cells digesting parts of themselves

Autophagy (or autophagocytosis; from the Greek αὐτόφαγος, autóphagos, meaning "self-devouring" and κύτος, kýtos, meaning "hollow") is the natural, conserved degradation of a biological cell that removes unnecessary or dysfunctional components through a lysosome-dependent regulated mechanism. It allows the orderly degradation and recycling of cellular components. Although initially characterized as a primordial degradation pathway induced to protect against starvation, it has become increasingly clear that autophagy also plays a major role in the homeostasis of non-starved cells.

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