Lipids in membrane formation for autophagosomes and autophagy induction

Autophagy is a multi-step membrane remodeling and lipid delivery mechanism from different intercellular membrane sources. Being a membrane-driven cellular process, autophagy heavily relies on the correct distribution of lipids, which acts as a driving force behind the selective recruitment of different essential proteins regulating multiple steps of autophagy. Moreover, lipids also serve as the driving force behind autophagic lysosomal reformation to maintain the lysosomal pool. In particular, ceramide and S1P lipids regulate the delicate equilibrium between the survival response and cell death. This chapter highlights the importance of lipids in the journey of autophagosomes from biogenesis to autophagosome–lysosome fusion delivering engulfed cargos to autolysosomes for recycling.