Topic summary
T-SNARE
Extracted from the Wikipedia article SNARE protein.
Role in autophagy
Though the mechanism of phagophore initiation in mammals is unknown, SNAREs have been implicated in phagophore formation through homotypic fusion of small, clathrin-coated, single-membrane vesicles containing Atg16L, the v-SNARE VAMP7, and its partner t-SNAREs: Syntaxin-7, Syntaxin-8, and VTI1B. In yeast, the t-SNAREs Sec9p and Sso2p are required for exocytosis and promote tubulovesicular budding of Atg9 positive vesicles, which are also required for autophagosome biogenesis. Knocking out either of these SNAREs leads to accumulation of small Atg9 containing vesicles that do not fuse, therefore preventing the formation of the pre-autophagosomal structure.