Cysteine protease, AUT-like 2 cysteine endopeptidase, Autophagin-2, Autophagy-related cysteine endopeptidase 2, Autophagy-related protein 4 homolog A, hAPG4A, APG4A, AUTL2
ATG4A is a 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.
