Immunoprecipitation experiments showed that during starvation Beclin 1, released from Bcl-2, first bound with increasing efficiency to Ins(1,4,5)P 3 Rs; after reaching a maximal binding after 3 h, binding, however, decreased again. The interaction site of Beclin 1 was determined to be present in the N-terminal Ins(1,4,5)P 3 -binding domain of the Ins(1,4,5) P 3 R. The starvation-induced Ins(1,4,5)P 3 R sensitization was abolished in cells treated with BECN1 siRNA, but not with ATG5 siRNA, pointing toward an essential role of Beclin 1 in this process. Moreover, recombinant Beclin 1 sensitized Ins(1,4,5) P 3 Rs in 45 Ca 2+ -flux assays, indicating a direct regulation of Ins(1,4,5)P 3 R activity by Beclin 1. Finally, we found that Ins(1,4,5) P 3 R-mediated Ca 2+ signaling was critical for starvation-induced autophagy stimulation, since the Ca 2+ chelator BAPTA-AM as well as the Ins(1,4,5)P 3 R inhibitor xestospongin B abolished the increase in LC3 lipidation and GFP-LC3-puncta formation. Hence, our results indicate a tight and essential interrelation between intracellular Ca 2+ signaling and autophagy stimulation as a proximal event in response to starvation.