ATG4D, APG4D, AUTL4, Cysteine protease ATG4D, AUT-like 4 cysteine endopeptidase, Autophagin-4, Autophagy-related cysteine endopeptidase 4, Autophagy-related protein 4 homolog D
Autophagy is the process by which endogenous proteins and damaged organelles are destroyed intracellularly. Autophagy is postulated to be essential for cell homeostasis and cell remodeling during differentiation, metamorphosis, non-apoptotic cell death, and aging. Reduced levels of autophagy have been described in some malignant tumors, and a role for autophagy in controlling the unregulated cell growth linked to cancer has been proposed. This gene belongs to the autophagy-related protein 4 (Atg4) family of C54 endopeptidases. Members of this family encode proteins that play a role in the biogenesis of autophagosomes, which sequester the cytosol and organelles for degradation by lysosomes. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2013],enzyme regulation:Inhibited by N-ethylmaleimide.,function:Cysteine protease required for autophagy, which cleaves the C-terminal part of either MAP1LC3, GABARAPL2 or GABARAP, allowing the liberation of form I. A subpopulation of form I is subsequently converted to a smaller form (form II). Form II, with a revealed C-terminal glycine, is considered to be the phosphatidylethanolamine (PE)-conjugated form, and has the capacity for the binding to autophagosomes.,similarity:Belongs to the peptidase C54 family.,tissue specificity:Mainly expressed in skeletal muscle and, to a lower extent, in testis.,
