Nature Cell Biol. 11: 385-396 (2009)

We identified two novel Beclin 1 associated proteins and named them Atg14L and Rubicon respectively. Atg14L and Rubicon bind to Beclin-1 in a mutually exclusive manner. While Atg14L-Beclin 1 complex positively regulated autophagy at an early step, Rubicon-Beclin 1 complex negatively regulated autophagy at a later step as well as endocytic traffic. It has been reported that Beclin 1+/- mice increases the frequency of spontaneous tumor. Regulation of autophagic and endocytic pathways by the two Beclin 1 complexes may be critical for suppression of carcinogenesis.