Bioinformatics analysis identifies Mot2 protein as a potential regulator of autophagy in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Macroautophagy/autophagy is a conserved mechanism of cellular degradation and recycling. Autophagy is a multi-step process that must be precisely regulated at multiple levels (transcriptional, post-transcriptional, translational, and post-translational). However, there is a gap in our understanding of the molecular details of these mechanisms. Therefore, characterization of factors modulating autophagy and autophagy-related ( ATG ) genes is an important area for investigation. Here, we used a bioinformatics approach to screen 37 yeast ATG genes using the YEASTRACT database to identify potential regulators. Through our selection criteria, we discovered one novel factor-Mot2p. Our findings support that the yeast Mot2 protein is a regulator of cell survival, ATG8 , and potentially, autophagy.