Autophagy and its physiological relevance in arthropods: current knowledge and perspectives

The autophagic process is one of the best examples of a conserved mechanism of survival in eukaryotes. At the molecular level there are impressive similarities between unicellular and multicellular organisms, but there is increasing evidence that the same process may be used for different ends, i.e., survival or death, at least at the cellular level. Arthropods encompass a wide variety of invertebrates such as insects, crustaceans and spiders, and thus represent the taxon in which most of the investigations on autophagy in nonmammalian models are performed. The present review is focused on the genetic basis and the physiological meaning of the autophagic process in key models of arthropods. The involvement of autophagy in programmed cell death, especially during oogenesis and development, is also discussed.