Defining the composition of autophagic cargo

Cargo of selective autophagy are often discrete entities – membrane-encased organelles in mitophagy or ER-phagy, encapsulated pathogenic microbes in xenophagy – or in case of proteins either specific structural assemblies (e.g. Cvt, proteophagy or ferritinophagy) or assemblies with particular material properties (aggrephagy). To understand what defines a cargo for autophagic degradation we combine structural proteomics with advanced light microscopy and in situ cryo-electron tomography. This will allow us to directly determine and visualize the composition of autophagic cargo degraded under various different conditions.