autophagosome

GO:0005776 · Membrane organelle · Membrane bounded organelle · Proposed

A double-membrane-bounded compartment that engulfs endogenous cellular material as well as invading microorganisms to target them to the lytic vacuole/lysosome for degradation as part of macroautophagy. [GO:0005776]

Synonyms: autophagic vacuole; initial autophagic vacuole

Has part: autophagosome membrane (GO:0000421); autophagosome lumen (GO:0034423)

UniProt location names: UniProt Consortium, CC BY 4.0. Reference label and route sources.

Components

Component	Type	Part of / acts on	Grounding	Genes	Stoichiometry	Essential	Role
autophagosome membrane	Lipid	part of	`GO:0000421`			ESSENTIAL	Double lipid-bilayer boundary that encloses the autophagosome lumen and separates engulfed cytoplasmic cargo from the cytosol. `GO:0000421` GO:0000421 defines the autophagosome membrane as the lipid bilayer surrounding an autophagosome. `DOI:10.1038/ncb1007-1102` Xie and Klionsky 2007 review autophagosome biogenesis and the core membrane-expansion machinery.

Taxonomic distribution

NCBITaxon:4932 Saccharomyces cerevisiae — COMMON: Budding yeast forms autophagosomes during starvation-induced macroautophagy and has been used to define core Atg machinery. [DOI:10.1083/jcb.119.2.301]

Canonical examples

NCBITaxon:4932 Saccharomyces cerevisiae — Genetic and fluorescence-microscopy model for the pre-autophagosomal structure and autophagosome formation. [DOI:10.1093/emboj/20.21.5971]

Functions

macroautophagy — Autophagosomes engulf cytoplasmic material in a double-membrane vesicle and deliver that cargo to a lytic vacuole for degradation.
- GO:0016236 GO:0016236 defines macroautophagy as the autophagic process that proceeds via autophagosome formation.
- DOI:10.1083/jcb.119.2.301 Takeshige et al. 1992 demonstrated starvation-induced autophagy in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
autophagosome-vacuole fusion — In yeast, completed autophagosomes fuse with the fungal-type vacuole to release autophagic bodies into the degradative lumen.
- GO:0061909 GO:0061909 defines autophagosome-lysosome fusion and describes yeast autophagosome fusion with the vacuole.
- DOI:10.1083/jcb.119.2.301 Takeshige et al. 1992 used proteinase-deficient yeast mutants to accumulate autophagic bodies in the vacuole.

Mechanism graphs

Yeast autophagosomes deliver cytosol to the vacuole (FUNCTION)

The autophagosome membrane encloses a lumen, the vesicle forms as part of macroautophagy, and yeast autophagosomes fuse with the fungal-type vacuole to deliver cargo for degradation.

Subject	Predicate	Object	Evidence
autophagosome membrane	bounds	autophagosome lumen	`GO:0034423` GO:0034423 defines the autophagosome lumen as the volume enclosed within the autophagosome double-membrane.
autophagosome membrane	is part of	autophagosome	`GO:0000421` GO:0000421 defines the autophagosome membrane as the lipid bilayer surrounding an autophagosome.
autophagosome	supports	macroautophagy	`GO:0016236` GO:0016236 defines macroautophagy as the autophagic process that proceeds via autophagosome formation.
autophagosome	fuses with	fungal-type vacuole	`GO:0061909` GO:0061909 covers yeast autophagosome fusion with the vacuole. `DOI:10.1083/jcb.119.2.301` Takeshige et al. 1992 demonstrated delivery of autophagic bodies into proteinase-deficient yeast vacuoles.

Discussions

CURATION_TODO (OPEN): Resolve exact source-neutral identifiers for Atg8 lipidation, Atg12-Atg5-Atg16, Atg9 trafficking and autophagosome-vacuole fusion machinery before adding those proteins or complexes. This first autophagosome record grounds the double membrane and lumen, while leaving Atg protein cohorts out until exact family or complex identifiers can be verified for the taxon-agnostic component table.

Evidence

GO:0005776 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for autophagosome.
GO:0000421 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for the autophagosome membrane.
GO:0034423 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for the autophagosome lumen.
GO:0016236 Gene Ontology biological-process term for macroautophagy.
GO:0061909 Gene Ontology biological-process term for autophagosome-lysosome fusion.
DOI:10.1083/jcb.119.2.301 Takeshige et al. 1992, Autophagy in yeast demonstrated with proteinase-deficient mutants and conditions for its induction, Journal of Cell Biology.
DOI:10.1093/emboj/20.21.5971 Suzuki et al. 2001, The pre-autophagosomal structure organized by concerted functions of APG genes is essential for autophagosome formation, The EMBO Journal.
DOI:10.1038/35044114 Ichimura et al. 2000, A ubiquitin-like system mediates protein lipidation, Nature.
DOI:10.1038/ncb1007-1102 Xie and Klionsky 2007, Autophagosome formation: core machinery and adaptations, Nature Cell Biology.

Curation history

2026-09-11T19:34:09Z codex · CREATED_RECORD — Scaffolded by scripts/new_record.py
2026-09-11T19:35:27Z codex · EXPANDED_RECORD — Added autophagosome membrane and lumen parts, GO exact synonymy, a membrane component, Saccharomyces cerevisiae scope, macroautophagy and autophagosome-vacuole fusion functions, a nonmechanistic vacuole-delivery graph, and a grounding TODO for Atg autophagosome machinery.
2026-09-11T19:41:19Z codex · ADDRESS_REVIEW — Addressed review issues #540 and #541 by connecting the autophagosome membrane to the top-level graph organelle node and by recasting the macroautophagy edge as a functional support edge.

Source: data/structures/membrane_organelle/autophagosome.yaml