Monitoring Autophagic Flux in vivo Revealed its Physiological Response and Significance of Heterogeneity in Pancreatic Beta Cells

Autophagy plays an essential role in preserving cellular homeostasis in pancreatic beta cells. However, the extent of autophagic flux in pancreatic islets induced in various physiological settings remains unclear. In this study, we generate transgenic mice expressing pHluorin-LC3-mCherry reporter for monitoring systemic autophagic flux. Heterogeneity of autophagic flux in pancreatic beta cells manifests under insulin resistance with differential gene expression. Our pHluorin-LC3-mCherry mice enable us to reveal biological insight into heterogeneity in autophagic flux in pancreatic beta cells.