Autophagy is a major intracellular degradation pathway critical for the health maintenance of eukaryotes. As it is mediated by vesicular trafficking, the degradation capacity of autophagy far surpasses that of the proteasomal pathway. It is the only known pathway capable of eliminating entire organelles. The current explosion of autophagy research was ignited in the 90s by pioneering works of Daniel J. Klionsky and Yoshinori Ohsumi. The identification of autophagy-related (ATG) genes in yeast greatly facilitated the subsequent expansion of research into multicellular organisms and the exploration of the physiological functions of autophagy.
The central step in macroautophagy (the best documented form of autophagy) is the formation of autophagosomes, which are double-membrane vesicles responsible for the sequestration and transport of degradation targets. One main focus of our past and current research is the elucidation of the molecular mechanisms underlying the membrane dynamics during autophagosome formation. In addition, we have a general interest in the study of intracellular membrane trafficking and the application of mathematics in biology.
Song JZ, Li H, Yang H, Liu R, Zhang W, He T, Xie MX, Chen C, Cui L, Wu S, Rong Y, Pan LF, Zhu J, Gong Q*, Wang J*, Qin Z*, Xie Z*. Atg8 recruits Atg1 to the phagophore to coordinate multiple branches of the autophagy machinery. Nat Struct Mol Biol. 2025 Apr 28. Doi: 10.1038/s41594-025-01546-0
Zhu J, Xie R, Ren Q, Zhou J, Chen C, Xie MX, Zhou Y, Zhang Y, Liu N, Wang J, Zhang Z, Liu X, Yan W*, Gong Q*, Dong L*, Zhu JW*, Wang F*, Xie Z*. Asgard Arf GTPases can act as membrane-associating molecular switches with the potential to function in organelle biogenesis. Nat Commun. 2025 Mar 17. Doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-57902-7
Li H, Song JZ, He CW, Xie MX, Zhang ZT, Zhou Y, Li XJ, Cui L, Zhu J, Gong Q, Xie Z*. Temporal dissection of the roles of Atg4 and ESCRT in autophagosome formation in yeast. Cell Death Differ. 2024 Dec 23. doi: 10.1038/s41418-024-01438-8.
He, CW, Cui, XF, Ma, SJ, Xu Q, Ran YP, Chen WZ, Mu JX, Li H, Zhu J, Gong Q, Xie Z*. Membrane recruitment of Atg8 by Hfl1 facilitates turnover of vacuolar membrane proteins in yeast cells approaching stationary phase. BMC Biol. 2021 Jun 04(1); 19:117.
Zhu J, Zhang ZT, Tang SW, Zhao BS, Li H, Song JZ, Li D, Xie Z*. A Validated Set of Fluorescent-Protein-Based Markers for Major Organelles in Yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). mBio. 2019 Sep 3;10(5). pii: e01691-19.
Zhu J, Deng S, Lu P, Bu W, Li T, Yu L*, Xie Z*. The Ccl1-Kin28 kinase complex regulates autophagy under nitrogen starvation. J Cell Sci. 2016 Jan1;129(1):135-44.
Backues SK, Chen D, Ruan J, Xie Z*, Klionsky DJ*. Estimating the size and number of autophagic bodies by electron microscopy. Autophagy. 2014 Jan 1;10(1):155-64.
Yang J, Zhao Y, Ma K, Jiang FJ, Liao W, Zhang P, Zhou J, Tu B, Wang L, Kampinga HH, Xie Z*, Zhu WG*. Deficiency of hepatocystin induces autophagy through an mTOR-dependent pathway. Autophagy. 2011 Jul;7(7):748-59. )
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