Autophagy Related Protein 101 (ATG101)

ATG101 is a newly found important autophagy related protein, among many other proteins responsible for autophagy, a process well conserved among most eukaryotic organisms. However, ATG101 is not homologous to any of the other ATG proteins. ATG101 interacts with essential autophagy protein ATG13 in mammals, which is a ULK1 interacting protein. ULK1 (unc-51-like kinase 1) is thought to be important to the activation of macroautophagy in mammals. ATG101 is suggested to protect ATG13 from proteasomal degradation, therefore stabilizing levels of ATG13 found in cells and regulating levels of macroautophagy. According to published papers, ATG101 is said to localize to the isolation membrane, also known as a phagophore.