![](http://www.alamy.com/thumbs/6/46E8CAE3-7F8B-42AB-822A-4F594B351668/2XJ74AP.jpg)
Cellular autophagy and mitophagy. Illustration showing the mechanism by which cells remove unnecessary or dysfunctional cellular components, known as
Cellular autophagy and mitophagy. Illustration showing the mechanism by which cells remove unnecessary or dysfunctional cellular components, known as autophagy (autophagocytosis). During this process, the target organelles are isolated from the rest of the cell within a double-membrane vesicle called an autophagosome (bright blue spheres). The autophagosome fuses with a lysosome (spheres with dots), the contents of which then degrade the target organelles and their constituents are recycled. Mitophagy is a specialised form of autophagy that eliminates dysfunctional mitochondria, the organelles that produce energy for a cell. A mitochondrion is tagged as damaged by the movement of cardiolipin, an inner mitochondrial membrane phospholipid, to the outer mitochondrial membrane.
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