Phosphatidylinositol-3-phosphate (PI3P) is a key player in membrane dynamics and trafficking regulation. Most PI3P is associated with endosomal membranes and with the autophagosome preassembly machinery, presumably at the endoplasmic reticulum. The enzyme responsible for most PI3P synthesis, VPS34 and proteins such as Beclin1 and ATG14L that regulate PI3P levels are positive modulators of autophagy initiation. It had been assumed that a local PI3P pool was present at autophagosomes and preautophagosomal structures, such as the omegasome and the phagophore. This was recently confirmed by the demonstration that PI3P-binding proteins participate in the complex sequence of signalling that results in autophagosome assembly and activity. Here we summarize the historical discoveries of PI3P lipid kinase involvement in autophagy, and we discuss the proposed role of PI3P during autophagy, notably during the autophagosome biogenesis sequence.
PI3P in membrane identity and traffickingPhosphatidylinositol-3-phosphate (PI3P) is a phosphoinositide [1]. Many lipids, including some phosphoinositides such as PI4,5P 2 , have been shown to play crucial roles in cellular organization, motility and intracellular membrane trafficking [2] including membrane protrusion, invagination and remodelling. Interestingly, the subcellular location of phosphoinositides inside the cell is tightly regulated, and the presence, or absence, of specific phosphoinositides, together with specialized membrane trafficking proteins such as Rab small GTPases, at a given membrane compartment is often directly correlated with compartment function [3]. Phosphoinositides such as PI4,5P 2 , PI3,4,5P 3 and PI4P have been detected at the plasma membrane and at the Golgi apparatus (Fig. 1). Instead, PI3P is detected at surface of early endosomes and on intraluminal vesicles of multivesicular endosomes and on autophagosomes, the main organelle of the autophagy degradation pathway [4,5]. PI3,5P 2 , a subproduct of PI3P, is also detected on autophagosomes and the limiting membranes of late endosomes. Finally, PI3P is observed at sites of LC3-associated phagocytosis and Abbreviations 3-MA, 3-methyl-adenine; ALFY, autophagy-FYVE-linked protein; ALR, autophagosome-lysosome reformation; AMBRA1, autophagy/beclin-1 regulator 1; ATG, autophagy-related; CMA, chaperone-mediated autophagy; ER, endoplasmic reticulum; FYCO1, FYVE and coiled-coil domain containing 1; INPP5E, inositol polyphosphate-5-phosphatase E; LIR, LC3 interaction region; MTMRs, myotubularins; NRBF2, nuclear receptor-binding factor 2; PAS, preautophagosomal structure; PI3KC2, class II phosphoinositide-3-kinase; PI3KC3, class III phosphoinositide-3-kinase; PI3P, phosphatidylinositol-3-phosphate; PROPPIN, β-propellers that bind phosphoinositides; RUFY4, RUN and FYVE domain containing 4; TECPR1, Tectonin domain-containing protein 1; VMP1, vacuole membrane protein 1.