Pexophagy in yeasts

Pexophagy, selective degradation of peroxisomes via autophagy, is the main system for reducing organelle abundance. Elucidation of the molecular machinery of pexophagy has been pioneered in studies of the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the methylotrophic yeasts Pichia pastoris and Hansenula polymorpha. Recent analyses using these yeasts have elucidated the molecular machineries of pexophagy, especially in terms of the interactions and modifications of the so-called adaptor proteins required for guiding autophagic membrane biogenesis on the organelle surface. Based on the recent findings, functional relevance of pexophagy and another autophagic pathway, mitophagy (selective autophagy of mitochondria), is discussed. We also discuss the physiological importance of pexophagy in these yeast systems. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Peroxisomes edited by Ralf Erdmann.