NCOA4: More than a receptor for ferritinophagy.

Liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) triages protein cargoes for autophagic degradation. In this issue, Ohshima et al. (2022. J. Cell Biol.https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.202203102) demonstrate that the autophagy receptor NCOA4 interacts with ferritin particles to form liquid-like condensates via LLPS. The NCOA4-ferritin condensates are delivered to lysosomes for degradation via either canonical macroautophagy or endosomal microautophagy to maintain intracellular iron homeostasis.