Structural basis of the autophagy-specific E1 enzyme Atg7

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The crystal structure of Atg7, the E1 enzyme specific to autophagy, has been determined alone and in complex with various Atg factors. Using the structural information, mutational analyses were performed, which revealed that Atg7 recognizes ubiquitin-like proteins and E2 enzymes using unique structures that were not observed in other E1 enzymes and that Atg7 catalyzes the conjugation reaction between ubiquitin-like proteins and E2 enzymes using a novel mechanism that has never been observed in other E1 enzymes. Since the reactions catalyzed by Atg7 are essential only to autophagy, the obtained knowledge will contribute to the development of novel compounds that specifically regulate autophagy.