The word "autophagy" was in existence and frequently used from the middle of the 19th century. In its present usage, the term autophagy was coined by Belgian biochemist Christian de Duve in 1963 based on his discovery of the functions of lysosome. The identification of autophagy-related genes in yeast in the 1990s allowed researchers to deduce the mechanisms of autophagy, which eventually led to the award of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to Japanese researcher Yoshinori Ohsumi.
Who won the 2016 Nobel Prize?
The Japanese researcher Yoshinori Ohsumi.