Homozygotes die at the early third larval instar stage.

Homozygous second instar larvae do not initiate an autophagic response upon starvation (as assayed by lack of autophagy markers), in contrast to wild-type controls. In addition, ultrastructural analysis indicates that the gut cells of the mutant larvae are mostly devoid of autophagosomes and autolysosomes.

Mutant larvae accumulate numerous ubiquitin-positive structures in the gut and fat-body under unstarved conditions, in contrast to control larvae.