iTHEMS Biology Seminar by Prof. Yuji Sakai on May 14, 2021

In iTHEMS Biology Seminar on May 14th, Prof. Yuji Sakai (Univ. of Tokyo) talked about the theoretical model of the autophagosome. First, he explained the autophagosome formation process, where the disk-like and cup-like shapes of the membrane are observed. Then, he talked about the previous theories, where the spontaneous curvature is not considered. Next, he explained his theoretical model, in which the spontaneous curvature is induced and stabilized by the “curvature generator”. By minimizing the free energy in his model, he quantitatively reproduced the autophagosome formation via the disk and the cup. Finally, he mentioned the candidate of the curvature generator.
His attractive talk induced various discussions and questions from the audience. Thank you very much for nice talk, Yuji!

Reported by Hiroshi Yokota