A critical priority in the future will be to form a deeper mechanistic understanding of the role of the WASH complex in autophagy. We expect that its reduced endosomal recruitment is accompanied by a decrease in actin patch formation at this compartment. It will be necessary to target the actin nucleation promoting activity of WASH1 to investigate whether this particular function affects autophagosome formation. By driving actin patch formation, the WASH complex regulates endosomal tubulation and fission, 4 and this process is likely to be of great importance to early events in the autophagic pathway. As implied by our data, it might regulate the trafficking of necessary autophagy proteins such as ATG9A to the appropriate compartments. Moreover, considering that the recycling endosome is a membrane source for autophagosomes and appears to be the nucleation site for their formation, 6 the integrity of tubulation and scission mechanisms—such as those facilitated by the WASH complex—may be essential for the biogenesis of a unique compartment.