The Role of Autophagy in Early Development and Tumor Suppression Using a Zebrafish Model System

Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved lysosomal degradation pathway which involves the sequestration of cytoplasmic components into a double membraned structure called the autophagosome. By using genetically manipulated autophagy-deficient models, important roles for autophagy in development and tumorigenesis have been suggested. Genetic analyses indicate that autophagy is essential for eukaryotic differentiation and development. However, little is known about whether autophagy contributes to morphogenesis during embryonic development. To address this question, the role of autophagy in early development was examined using zebrafish, a model system for studying vertebrate tissue and organ morphogenesis. Active autophagy was observed in multiple tissues during early embryonic development, as evidenced by the presence of autophagosomes in electron microscope images or GFP-LC3 puncta in autophagy reporter fish line Tg(cmv