Biology:ATG4D

Short description: Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Generic protein structure example

The human ATG4D gene encodes the protein Autophagy related 4D, cysteine peptidase.

Function

Autophagy is the process by which endogenous proteins and damaged organelles are destroyed intracellularly. Autophagy is postulated to be essential for cell homeostasis and cell remodeling during differentiation, metamorphosis, non-apoptotic cell death, and aging. Reduced levels of autophagy have been described in some malignant tumors, and a role for autophagy in controlling the unregulated cell growth linked to cancer has been proposed.

This gene belongs to the autophagy-related protein 4 (Atg4) family of C54 endopeptidases. Members of this family encode proteins that play a role in the biogenesis of autophagosomes, which sequester the cytosol and organelles for degradation by lysosomes. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2013].

Further reading

• "A cryptic mitochondrial targeting motif in Atg4D links caspase cleavage with mitochondrial import and oxidative stress". Autophagy 8 (4): 664–76. April 2012. doi:10.4161/auto.19227. PMID 22441018. 
• "Caspase cleavage of Atg4D stimulates GABARAP-L1 processing and triggers mitochondrial targeting and apoptosis". Journal of Cell Science 122 (Pt 14): 2554–66. July 2009. doi:10.1242/jcs.046250. PMID 19549685. 
• "Human autophagins, a family of cysteine proteinases potentially implicated in cell degradation by autophagy". The Journal of Biological Chemistry 278 (6): 3671–8. February 2003. doi:10.1074/jbc.M208247200. PMID 12446702. 

This article incorporates text from the United States National Library of Medicine, which is in the public domain.