WD repeat domain phosphoinositide-interacting protein 1 (WIPI) is involved in the lysosomal degradation of cytoplasmic components during starvation-induced autophagy. WIPI1 is a seven bladed beta-propeller protein that provides a scaffold for the assembly of multimeric protein complexes (1). During the assembly of the autophagosome WIPI1 interacts with the lipid phosphatidylinositol-3 phosphate (PI3P) and mediates the recruitment of the large multimeric complex of ATG12-ATG5-ATG16 (1).
