TBK1 and neurodegenerative disease: For instance, the TBK1 kinase can directly phosphorylate Optineurin, a crucial ubiquitin-binding autophagy receptor involved in xenophagy, aggrephagy and the depolarization-dependent mitophagy in mammals, to promote the efficiencies of Optineurin-mediated selective autophagy processes19,36,39–41, and importantly, genetic mutations of Optineurin and TBK1 have been both linked with neurodegenerative diseases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)42–44.