ATG5 and neurodegenerative disease: Vps13a−/− basal ganglia exhibited activation of LC3 II/I and significant accumulation of the following autophagy-related proteins: Ulk1, Atg4, Atg5, Atg9 and the lysosomal cargo protein p62 consistent with impairment of autophagy in Vps13a−/− mice (Additional file 1: Fig. S4A) as described in other neurodegenerative diseases such as PD and AD [45, 56–58].