The Autophagy Antibody Sampler Kit provides an economical means to investigate the molecular machinery of autophagy within the cell. The kit contains enough primary and secondary antibodies to perform two Western blot experiments.

Autophagy is a catabolic process for the autophagosomic-lysosomal degradation of bulk cytoplasmic contents (1,2). Autophagy is generally activated by conditions of nutrient deprivation but has also been associated with a number of physiological processes including development, differentiation, neurodegeneration, infection, and cancer (3). The molecular machinery of autophagy was largely discovered in yeast and referred to as autophagy-related (Atg) genes. Formation of the autophagosome involves a ubiquitin-like conjugation system in which Atg12 is covalently bound to Atg5 and targeted to autophagosome vesicles (4-6). This conjugation reaction is mediated by the ubiquitin E1-like enzyme Atg7 and the E2-like enzyme Atg10 (7,8).