HKUST scientists discover autophagy inhibitory peptides from giant ankyrins

(Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) Recently, a research team led by structural biologist Prof. Mingjie Zhang from HKUST has discovered potent and specific inhibitory peptides to target the Atg8 family proteins (including LC3s and GABARAPs), central components in the autophagy pathway. These genetically encodable autophagy inhibitory peptides can be used to occlude autophagy spatiotemporally in living animals, which leads to many situations where they can be utilized in a variety of...