Autophagy is a pathway by which cytoplasmic constituents, including organelles and intracellular pathogens, are sequestred in a double-membrane-bound autophagosome and delivered to the lysosome for degradation.
The role of autophagy is to eliminate unwanted constituents from the cell and recycle cytoplasmic material allowing the cell to maintain macromolecular synthesis and energy homeostatis during starvation and other stressful conditions.