autophagy 4 homolog A; cysteine protease ATG4A; AUT-like 2 cysteine endopeptidase; autophagin-2; autophagy-related cysteine endopeptidase 2; autophagy-related protein 4 homolog A; hAPG4A (ATG4A APG4A AUTL2)

Function

• cysteine protease required for autophagy
• cleaves C-terminal part of either MAP1LC3, GABARAPL2 or GABARAP, allowing liberation of form I
• subpopulation of form I is subsequently converted to a smaller form (form II)
• form II, with a revealed C-terminal GLY, is considered to be the phosphatidylethanolamine-conjugated form, & has the capacity for the binding to autophagosomes
• preferred substrate is GABARAPL2 followed by MAP1LC3A & GABARAP

Inhibition:

• inhibited by N-ethylmaleimide

Structure

belongs to the peptidase C54 family

Compartment

cytoplasm (probable)

Alternative splicing

named isoforms=4

Expression

• widely expressed, at a low level
• highest expression in skeletal muscle & brain
• also detected in fetal liver

More general terms

• autophagy protein (autophagy-related protein)
• cysteine proteinase; thiol proteinase
• phosphoprotein

Database

• Entrez gene: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=gene&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=Graphics&list_uids=115201
• Kegg: http://www.genome.jp/dbget-bin/www_bget?hsa:115201
• OMIM: https://mirror.omim.org/entry/300663
• UniProt: http://www.uniprot.org/uniprot/Q8WYN0.html