POMC and obesity due to melanocortin 4 receptor deficiency: Consistent with a functional role for autophagy in POMC neurons, conditional deletion of essential autophagy genes, such as the autophagy-related gene (Atg) 7, results in obesity and impaired glucose homeostasis (Coupe et al., 2012; Kaushik et al., 2012; Quan et al., 2012).