proteaphagy

traitmech:000645 · CLASS · PROPOSED

An autophagy phenotype in which a microbial cell degrades its proteasomes or proteasome subcomplexes by delivering them to lysosomal or vacuolar compartments.

Trait evidence (3)

  • DOI:10.1074/jbc.M115.699124
    Here we show that in yeast, upon nitrogen starvation, proteasomes are targeted for vacuolar degradation through autophagy.

    PMID:26670610, PMC4751371. Scientific abstract directly read in DOI-matched Europe PMC metadata and XML. Yeast-strain and immunoblot Methods, autophagy-dependence and core/regulatory-particle Results, Table 1 and relevant captions were read. Saccharomyces cerevisiae reporter processing and vacuolar localization support degradation; native gels address incorporation into complexes. The core and regulatory particles can be targeted separately, with different Ubp3 dependence; intact 26S uptake is not required by the definition. Figure 6D's caption conflicts with its title and body concerning Rpn10, so no Rpn10 requirement is curated. Actual figures, supplements and independent natural-strain provenance were not inspected.

  • DOI:10.1016/j.celrep.2016.07.015
    Here, we define two proteaphagy routes in yeast that respond to either nitrogen starvation or particle inactivation.

    PMID:27477278. Scientific abstract directly read in Europe PMC with matching DOI. The yeast study distinguishes starvation from quality-control turnover of inactive proteasomes; Cue5 and Hsp42 support the latter route, not a universal microbial gene inventory. Correction DOI:10.1016/j.celrep.2022.110552 (PMID:35294886) is linked by the source metadata. Its text was directly read at https://profiles.wustl.edu/en/publications/erratum-autophagic-turnover-of-inactive-26s-proteasomes-in-yeast-/: a duplicated anti-histone H3 control blot in Figure S3 was replaced; the authors state their conclusions are unchanged. The corrected figure, original full Methods, actual figures and strain provenance were not inspected. The correction is not independent trait evidence.

  • DOI:10.1016/j.jbc.2021.101494
    Indeed, we found that several conditions that activated general autophagy did not induce proteaphagy, further distinguishing proteaphagy from general autophagy.

    PMID:34919962, PMC8732087. Scientific abstract directly read in DOI-matched Europe PMC metadata and XML; Results sec1.1-sec1.3, Discussion sec2 and Methods sec3.1-sec3.4 were read. Proteasome GFP processing, native gels and vacuolar microscopy distinguish cargo turnover from general autophagy. In sec1.3, ATG11 deletion abolishes residual nitrogen-starvation turnover in an ATG17 deletion background, not all proteaphagy in every condition. Rapamycin yields no detected difference in the ATG11 single deletion, with a stated detection-limit caveat. Thus the later result does not establish a blanket contradiction of the 2016 single-deletion result. Methods identify W303-derived SUB61/SUB62 reporter and deletion strains. Captions were read; actual figures, supplements and independent strain provenance were not inspected.

Provenance

Identifier source
TraitMech local identifier
Definition source
DOI:10.1074/jbc.M115.699124

Parent traits (1)

kg-microbe context

No kg-microbe node embedding matched this record in the 2026-04-25 deepwalk.

Discussions and Knowledge Gaps (2)

Open questions attached to this trait. Seeded by just knowledge-gap-scan and curated; see the corpus-wide index.

Review proteasome-cargo scope and qualified GO alignment.

CURATION TODO OPEN proteaphagy-cargo-scope-and-go · raised by codex · 2026-10-06

Not yet attached to a section of this record — a curator sets attaches_to (e.g. causal_graphs#some_edge) so the gap shows beside the mechanism it concerns.

Proteasomes are the autophagic cargo, not the machinery degrading unrelated substrates. Ordinary proteasome-mediated proteolysis, proteasome biogenesis, storage granules, free-subunit loss or gene presence alone does not establish this phenotype. The 2016 starvation study includes separately targeted core and regulatory particles, so do not require intact holoenzyme uptake. GO:0061816, directly resolved at https://www.ebi.ac.uk/QuickGO/services/ontology/go/terms/GO%3A0061816, is a nonobsolete biological process restricted to selective macroautophagy, not an exact organismal phenotype. The cargo-defined local term does not impose a universal route, trigger or selectivity mechanism; retain this scope difference for human review and omit exact xrefs and synonyms. Ribophagy traitmech:000641 and nuclear-cargo degradation traitmech:000643 are distinct: shared machinery or prior nuclear localization does not equate these cargo phenotypes.

Resolve route-specific mechanisms, figures and natural exemplars.

KNOWLEDGE GAP OPEN proteaphagy-context-exemplars-and-mechanisms · raised by codex · 2026-10-06

Not yet attached to a section of this record — a curator sets attaches_to (e.g. causal_graphs#some_edge) so the gap shows beside the mechanism it concerns.

Keep starvation and inactive-particle quality-control routes distinct. The later ATG11 result concerns residual turnover in an ATG17 deletion background; neither an abstract's general wording nor a single deletion establishes universal necessity. Do not turn reduced efficiency, a detection limit or partial turnover into complete absence. Resolve the 2016 Figure 6D Rpn10 caption/body discrepancy and inspect the corrected Figure S3 associated with DOI:10.1016/j.celrep.2022.110552 before relying on those panels. Canonical examples remain unset pending independent natural-strain provenance. The microbial cell performing degradation carries the phenotype, not a bacterium eliciting an animal host response. Native taxon-paired protein accessions and functional evidence are required before a causal graph is added; ATG presence, puncta or loss of total proteasome abundance alone is not proof of autophagic flux.

Curation history

  1. · MINTED_TRAITMECH_ID · codex

    Added proteasome-cargo autophagy with three DOI-backed scientific-abstract snippets, subcomplex scope, context-specific ATG11 interpretation and explicit correction/figure limits. Ignored-and-hidden novelty checks, fresh seed and pinned METPO review found no exact record. Reserved METPO:1059800 in v521 using unchanged corrected parent context from v520. Deferred unverified exemplars, mappings and protein graphs.