"Autophagy" 指的是一种进化上保守的过程，通过该过程，细胞内的内容，如损坏的细胞器和蛋白微粒，被送到溶酶体中进行降解。根据货物性质和将它们送入溶酶体的方式，已经描述了不同形式的自噬作用。目前，哺乳动物细胞中普遍存在的自噬作用类别是巨噬自噬作用、微噬自噬作用和伴侣蛋白介导的自噬作用。已经广泛研究了巨噬自噬作用和伴侣蛋白介导的自噬作用的分子机制和生物学功能，但微噬自噬作用受到的关注却要少得多。近年来，关于微噬自噬作用的研究在酵母细胞和哺乳动物细胞中得到了增长。本文回顾了这种自噬作用的形式，重点关注选择性的微噬自噬作用。我们还讨论了上游调节机制、巨噬自噬作用和微噬自噬作用之间的交流，以及微噬自噬作用在人类疾病如癌症和神经退行性疾病中的功能影响。未来对微噬自噬作用的研究将提供开发与自噬和溶酶体相关的疾病相关的新干预策略的机会。©2022 Springer Nature Limited.

'Autophagy' refers to an evolutionarily conserved process through which cellular contents, such as damaged organelles and protein aggregates, are delivered to lysosomes for degradation. Different forms of autophagy have been described on the basis of the nature of the cargoes and the means used to deliver them to lysosomes. At present, the prevailing categories of autophagy in mammalian cells are macroautophagy, microautophagy and chaperone-mediated autophagy. The molecular mechanisms and biological functions of macroautophagy and chaperone-mediated autophagy have been extensively studied, but microautophagy has received much less attention. In recent years, there has been a growth in research on microautophagy, first in yeast and then in mammalian cells. Here we review this form of autophagy, focusing on selective forms of microautophagy. We also discuss the upstream regulatory mechanisms, the crosstalk between macroautophagy and microautophagy, and the functional implications of microautophagy in diseases such as cancer and neurodegenerative disorders in humans. Future research into microautophagy will provide opportunities to develop novel interventional strategies for autophagy- and lysosome-related diseases.© 2022. Springer Nature Limited.