Fig. 1

The pathway of mitophagy. PINK1 accumulates in large quantities after mitochondria are injured by the outside world. After Parkin is activated, autophagy receptor P62 is recruited, and autophagy receptors such as P62 bind with LC-3 to induce mitophagy. There are special structures on NIX, BNIP3 and Fundc1 that can directly bind to LC-3 to induce mitophagy. The damaged mitochondria are first swallowed by autophagosomes to form mitochondria, and then fuse with lysosomes, so that the defective mitochondria are degraded by lysosomal proteases. Finally, the degraded material is transported back to the cytoplasm for recycling