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Patent Pending Autophagy (or autophagocytosis) (from the Greek auto-, "self" and phagein, "to eat"), is the basic catabolic mechanism that involves cell degradation of unnecessary or dysfunctional cellular components through the actions of lysosomes.[1] The breakdown of cellular components promotes cellular survival during starvation by maintaining cellular energy levels.[1] Autophagy allows the degradation and recycling of cellular components.