Suppression of autophagy perturbs turnover of sequestosome-1/p62 in Merkel cells but not in keratinocytes

Autophagy is the main mechanism for the degradation of intracellular molecules and organelles via lysosomes. A decline of autophagic activity is associated with aging and aberrant levels of autophagy in various cell types have been linked to the initiation and progression of diseases [1,2]. To unravel roles of autophagy in epithelial cells of the skin in vivo, we have generated a mouse model [3] in which the essential autophagy gene Autophagy related 7 (Atg7) is deleted by the Cre-loxP system in keratin K14-positive cells that give rise to epidermis, skin appendages and Merkel cells.