Pathogens such as L. monocytogenes secrete effector proteins that irreversibly cleave ATG8 proteins preventing their reconjugation to the autophagosome and inhibiting their autophagy-mediated clearance. Other strategies include the cysteine protease SpeB secreted by GAS which efficiently degrades the autophagy receptor proteins p62/SQSTM1, NBR1 and NDP52 to prevent targeting by selective autophagy.