Further notes about the morphostasis concept – split files

(09) Autophagy and defence

Just as apoptosis may act as a defence mechanism to "globally" mulch (sanitize) the contents of a compromised cell, so autophagy (the intracellular destruction and re–absorption of a part of a cell without destroying the whole) is now emerging as an effective defence mechanism. See these articles:

This emphasises another important point about morphostasis. It is important to re–assimilate the material that is dismantled in apoptosis and autophagy. Leaving it unused invites "predatorial" species to use the material for their own gain. It would also be a serious increase in the total entropy of the host animal. It needs to be rapidly reutilised and recycled into entropy resistant self cells.

And, a last point about autophagy: there are reports that suggests that this is an important mechanism in peptide cross–presentation (Class I – endoplasmic reticulum resident peptide – to Class II – phagosome resident peptide) and it is a logical consequence of autophagy. Search "autophagy" and "cross presentation" in something like Google Scholar .