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. This evidence concerns the gene TBK1 and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.