ATG7 and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: TDP-43 has been found to be involved in the regulation of autophagy by associating with the mRNA of a key autophagy-associated protein ATG7 (autophagy related 7), however, some of the ALS-linked TDP-43 mutations can abolish its ATG7 mRNA binding ability (Bose et al., 2011).