Zymophagy: Selective Autophagy of Secretory Granules

Figure 1

Upon acute pancreatitis, the acinar cell activates Vmp1 gene expression and triggers the autophagic degradation of those zymogen granules activated during the disease (in red) avowing the intracellular spreading of activated digestive enzymes. Altered zymogen granules are recognized by ubiquitination. Zymophagy is a novel inducible and selective form of autophagy, mediated by VMP1, which functionally links the autophagy pathway with the ubiquitin machinery to trigger a protective response to disease.