Autophagy, the process of bulk degradation of cellular proteins through an autophagosomic-lysosomal pathway is important for normal growth control and may be defective in tumor cells. It is involved in the preservation of cellular nutrients under starvation conditions as well as the normal turnover of cytosolic components. This process is negatively regulated by TOR (Target of rapamycin) through phosphorylation of autophagy protein APG1. ATG16, another member of the autophagy protein family, forms a complex with the ATG5-ATG12 conjugate. This multimeric protein has been shown to be essential for autophagosome formation in both yeast and mammals and targets the ATG5-ATG12 complex to the autophagic isolation membrane during the formation of the autophagosome. Because mammalian ATG16 has seven WD-repeats in its C-terminal domain, it has been suggested that these may form a platform for further protein-protein interactions. Multiple isoforms of ATG16 are known to exist.
