ER-Phagy and Microbial Infection

Jiahui Li; Enfeng Gao; Chenguang Xu; Hongna Wang; Yongjie Wei

doi:10.3389/fcell.2021.771353

ER-Phagy and Microbial Infection

Front Cell Dev Biol. 2021 Nov 29:9:771353. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2021.771353. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Jiahui Li^{1

2}, Enfeng Gao^{1

2}, Chenguang Xu^{1

2}, Hongna Wang^{1

2

3}, Yongjie Wei^{1

2

4}

Affiliations

¹ Affiliated Cancer Hospital and Institute of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
² Key Laboratory for Cell Homeostasis and Cancer Research of Guangdong Higher Education Institutes, Guangzhou, China.
³ GMU-GIBH Joint School of Life Sciences, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease, Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Health, Guangzhou, China.

Abstract

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is an essential organelle in cells that synthesizes, folds and modifies membrane and secretory proteins. It has a crucial role in cell survival and growth, thus requiring strict control of its quality and homeostasis. Autophagy of the ER fragments, termed ER-phagy or reticulophagy, is an essential mechanism responsible for ER quality control. It transports stress-damaged ER fragments as cargo into the lysosome for degradation to eliminate unfolded or misfolded protein aggregates and membrane lipids. ER-phagy can also function as a host defense mechanism when pathogens infect cells, and its deficiency facilitates viral infection. This review briefly describes the process and regulatory mechanisms of ER-phagy, and its function in host anti-microbial defense during infection.

Keywords: ER-phagy; autophagy; bacteria; infection; microbial; reticulophagy; virus.

Publication types

Review