Loss of autophagy in Atg5−/− knock out mice14 and in patients with an inherited defect in the lysosomal protein Lamp-2 (ref. 20) leads to cardiomyopathy and heart failure; the proapoptotic kinase Mst1 induces cardiac dysfunction by impairing autophagy in cardiomyocytes19. The gene discussed is ATG5; the disease is cardiomyopathy.