A master conductor for aggregate clearance by autophagy

Autophagic adapters including p62/SQSTM1 recognize polyubiquitinated targets such as toxic protein aggregates. In a recent issue of Molecular Cell, Filimonenko et al. provide evidence that the phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate (PI3P) binding protein, Alfy, interacts with p62, Atg5, and PI3P to coordinate target recognition with site-specific activation of autophagic components.