Autophagy is an essential cellular process whereby damaged proteins and organelles are degraded and recycled. Autophagy, while happening constantly at a basal level, is tightly regulated and can be further induced under cellular stress. One of the regulators of the early steps of autophagy is ATG4. The ATG4 family of cysteine proteases consists of 4 homologs: ATG4A, ATG4B, ATG4C, and ATG4D.
