News
A new start for mitophagy
Jul 25, 2025
The recycling of damaged or surplus organelles by autophagy is crucial to maintaining cellular fitness. Dysregulation of mitophagy, in particular, is linked to Parkinson’s disease. A new study by postdoc Elias Adriaenssens (Martens lab), published in Nature Cell Biology, reveals a new mechanism for mitophagy initiation – showing that conventional downstream autophagy proteins, specifically WIPI proteins, are sometimes required in the early steps of autophagosome biogenesis. The discovery provokes a reconsideration of the hierarchy of factors in autophagy initiation. The study is part of the ‘Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s (ASAP)’ scientific collaboration network.