Autophagy meets planarians

Abstract

This review aims to demonstrate the importance of freshwater planarians as model organisms, particularly emphasizing those characteristics of the animal that make them a good model to study autophagy. The aim of this review is to provide a better understanding of autophagy in this model for the nonplanarian reader, and elucidate the relevance of autophagy research in this peculiar model organism. Furthermore, I will try to synthesize the evidence showing the importance of autophagy in planarian body remodeling, and I will discuss some ideas about the role of autophagy in stem cell biology. In light of these new developments, it is likely that the planarian field will make an important contribution to the study of the molecular mechanisms involved in autophagy in the future. © 2009 Landes Bioscience.