Autophagocytosis is a starvation-induced process responsible for transport of cytoplasmic proteins to the vacuole. The cysteine residue within the HPC motif is the putative active-site residue for recognition of the Apg5 subunit of the autophagosome complex [2].

1: AUT1, a gene essential for autophagocytosis in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Schlumpberger M, Schaeffeler E, Straub M, Bredschneider M, Wolf DH, Thumm M; J Bacteriol 1997;179:1068-1076. PMID:9023185

2: Mouse Apg10 as an Apg12-conjugating enzyme: analysis by the conjugation-mediated yeast two-hybrid method. Mizushima N, Yoshimori T, Ohsumi Y; FEBS Lett. 2002;532:450-454. PMID:12482611

3: Crystallization and preliminary X-ray analysis of Atg10. Yamaguti M, Suzuki NN, Fujioka Y, Ohsumi Y, Inagaki F; Acta Crystallogr Sect F Struct Biol Cryst Commun. 2007;63:443-445. PMID:17565192