Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved and highly regulated intracellular catabolic process that sequesters and digests cytosolic components to maintain cellular homeostasis. The autophagy process requires the formation of double-membrane autophagosomes in the cytosol, in which cytosolic components are enclosed through the elongation and sealing of phagophores, followed by the fusion with lysosomes to become degradative autolysosomes. The formation of autophagosomes and fusion with lysosomes need the participation of dozens of proteins, many of which are the effectors and regulators of other cellular pathways, meaning there is extensive crosstalk between autophagy and other cellular activities. Meanwhile, because of the degradative property, autophagy fights against pathogen infection in insects, animals, humans, and plants by direct killing as intrinsic immunity, or by enhancement of adaptive immunity through antigen processing for MHC-II presentation and pro-survival of memory lymphocytes. However, some pathogens have evolved strategies to evade autophagic killing or subvert autophagic pathways for their benefits. Since autophagy plays an important role in infectious diseases, therapy for infectious diseases may be developed through the modulation of autophagy.

This Research Topic is aimed at determining the effect of autophagy on infectious diseases, elucidating the mechanism of autophagic regulation in the context of infection, studying the crosstalk between autophagy and other cellular activities, and developing autophagy-targeted therapy for infectious diseases. With this Research Topic, we aim to develop a better understanding of the role of autophagy in infectious diseases, laying the foundation for the elucidation of the pathogenesis of infectious diseases, the interplay between hosts and pathogens, and the development of treatment approaches.

The following subtopics are preferred, but not exclusively:

• the effect of autophagy on infection in different hosts including insects, animals, humans, and plants
• the mechanism of autophagic regulation in infectious diseases
• crosstalk between autophagy and other cellular activities in infectious diseases
• immunomodulation through autophagy in infectious diseases
• development of autophagy-targeted therapy for infectious diseases
• canonical vs noncanonical autophagy in infectious diseases.

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Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology

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