Autophagy is a lysosome-dependent mechanism of intracellular degradation used for the turnover of damaged proteins and excess or aberrant organelles. Various pathways and processes involving macromolecular interactions and assemblies have been disclosed and it continues to gather increasing attention because of the connection to various diseases, development and aging. We have initiated the project to present these processes, and this is the first piece published in the journal, Autophagy, vol. 6, 679-685 (2010).