Chapter 14, Problem 15RTC

Summary Introduction

To discuss: About the basic difference between phagocytic and autophagic pathways and the three steps in the formation of autophagosomes.

Introduction:

Phagocytosis and Autophagy are almost similar processes happening inside the cells. Phagocytosis is mainly endocytosis which takes places mostly in phagocytes like neutrophils or macrophages. During this process a phagosome is formed outside the foreign object. On the other hand, autophagy means "self-eating" i.e. cleaning the unwanted organelles of the cell. In this process the autophagosomes are fused into the lysosomes being recognized as autolysosomes. There are two different roles for phagocytic and autophagic pathways respectively.