Protein engineering of sensors and modulators of autophagy (B05)

• Subject Area: Biochemistry ; Biophysics ; Structural Biology ; Cell Biology
• Term: from 2016 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 259130777

This project aims to interfere with autophagic processes on a molecular level to decode the spatial and temporal organization of autophagy. We will use engineered human ATG8 variants as intracellular high affini-ty reagents to uncover the molecular details of autophagy receptor functions and their dynamic regulation in situ. Moreover, we will use high affinity peptides that specifically bind individual human ATG8 orthologs as selective sensors to decipher the functional redundancy of human ATG8 proteins and their time-dependent recruitment to the autophagosome.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1177: Molecular and Functional Characterization of Selective Autophagy
• Applicant Institution: Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main
• Project Head: Dr. Andreas Ernst