Link to Pubmed [PMID] – 28533231
Link to DOI – 10.15252/embj.201797110
EMBO J 2017 Jun; 36(12): 1650-1652
Hypoxia occurs physiologically in the developing body, and changing oxygen tensions are known to direct tissue differentiation; however, in the context of pathology, the same hypoxia‐activated mechanisms may negatively affect tissue function. In this issue of The EMBO Journal, Esteban‐Martínez et al (2017) report that programmed mitophagy, dependent on hypoxia‐induced NIP‐3‐like protein X (BNIP3L, best known as NIX), is an essential step in differentiation of both retinal neurons and inflammatory macrophages.