AUTOPHAGY-RELATED11 plays a critical role in general autophagy- and senescence-induced mitophagy in Arabidopsis

Roots of the Resurrection Plant Tripogon loliiformis Survive Desiccation Without the Activation of Autophagy Pathways by Maintaining Energy Reserves

Being sessile, plants must regulate energy balance, potentially via source-sink relations, to compromise growth with survival in stressful conditions. Crops are sensitive, possibly because they allocate their energy resources toward growth and yield rather than stress tolerance. In contrast, resurrection plants tightly regulate sugar metabolism and use a series of physiological adaptations to suppress cell death in their vegetative tissue to regain full metabolic capacity from a desiccated state within 72 h of watering. Previously, we showed that shoots of the resurrection plant Tripogon loliiformis, initiate autophagy upon dehydration as one strategy to reinstate homeostasis and suppress cell death. Here, we describe the relationship between energy status, sugar metabolism, trehalose-mediated activation of autophagy pathways and investigate whether shoots and roots utilize similar desiccation tolerance strategies. We show that despite containing high levels of trehalose, dehydrated Tripogon roots do not display elevated activation of autophagy pathways. Using targeted and non-targeted metabolomics, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and transcriptomics we show that T. loliiformis engages a strategy similar to the long-term drought responses of sensitive plants and continues to use the roots as a sink even during sustained stress. Dehydrating T. loliiformis roots contained more sucrose and trehalose-6-phosphate compared to shoots at an equivalent water content. The increased resources in the roots provides sufficient energy to cope with stress and thus autophagy is not required. These results were confirmed by the absence of autophagosomes in roots by TEM. Upregulation of sweet genes in both shoots and roots show transcriptional regulation of sucrose translocation from leaves to roots and within roots during dehydration. Differences in the cell's metabolic status caused starkly different cell death responses between shoots and roots. These findings show how shoots and roots utilize different stress response strategies and may provide candidate targets that can be used as tools for the improvement of stress tolerance in crops.

The Role and Regulation of Autophagy and the Proteasome During Aging and Senescence in Plants

Aging and senescence in plants has a major impact on agriculture, such as in crop yield, the value of ornamental crops, and the shelf life of vegetables and fruits. Senescence represents the final developmental phase of the leaf and inevitably results in the death of the organ. Still, the process is completely under the control of the plant. Plants use their protein degradation systems to maintain proteostasis and transport or salvage nutrients from senescing organs to develop reproductive parts. Herein, we present an overview of current knowledge about the main protein degradation pathways in plants during senescence: The proteasome and autophagy. Although both pathways degrade proteins, autophagy appears to prevent aging, while the proteasome functions as a positive regulator of senescence.

How phosphoinositides shape autophagy in plant cells

Plant cells use autophagy to degrade their own cytoplasm in vacuoles, thereby not only recycling their breakdown products, but also ensuring the homeostasis of essential cytoplasmic constituents and organelles. Plants and other eukaryotes have a conserved set of core Autophagy-related (ATG) genes involved in the biogenesis of the autophagosome, the main autophagic compartment destined for the lytic vacuole. In the past decade, the core ATG genes were isolated from several plant species. The core ATG proteins include the components of the VACUOLAR PROTEIN SORTING 34 (VPS34) complex that is responsible for the local production of phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate (PI3P) at the site of autophagosome formation. Dissecting the roles of PI3P and its effectors in autophagy is challenging, because of the multi-faceted links between autophagosomal and endosomal systems. This review highlights recent studies on putative plant PI3P effectors involved in autophagosome dynamics. Molecular mechanisms underlying the requirement of PI3P for autophagosome biogenesis and trafficking are also discussed.

Autophagic Turnover of Chloroplasts: Its Roles and Regulatory Mechanisms in Response to Sugar Starvation

Photosynthetic reactions in chloroplasts convert atmospheric carbon dioxide into starch and soluble sugars during the day. Starch, a transient storage form of sugar, is broken down into sugars as a source for respiratory energy production at night. Chloroplasts thus serve as the main sites of sugar production for photoautotrophic plant growth. Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved intracellular process in eukaryotes that degrades organelles and proteins. Numerous studies have shown that autophagy is actively induced in sugar-starved plants. When photosynthetic sugar production is inhibited by environmental cues, chloroplasts themselves may become an attractive alternative energy source to sugars via their degradation. Here, we summarize the process of autophagic turnover of chloroplasts and its roles in plants in response to sugar starvation. We hypothesize that piecemeal-type chloroplast autophagy is specifically activated in plants in response to sugar starvation.

Autophagy and its role in plant abiotic stress management

Being unable to move, plants are regularly exposed to changing environmental conditions, among which various types of abiotic stress, such as heat, drought, salt, and so forth. These might have deleterious effects on plant performance and yield. Plants thus need to adapt using appropriate stress responses. One of the outcomes of abiotic stress is the need to degrade and recycle damaged proteins and organelles. Autophagy is a conserved eukaryotic mechanism functioning in the degradation of proteins, protein aggregates, and whole organelles. It was previously shown to have a role in plant abiotic stress. This review will describe the current knowledge regarding the involvement of autophagy in plant abiotic stress response, mechanisms functioning in autophagy induction during stress, and possible direction for future research.

A regulatory role of autophagy for resetting the memory of heat stress in plants

As sessile life forms, plants are repeatedly confronted with adverse environmental conditions, which can impair development, growth, and reproduction. During evolution, plants have established mechanisms to orchestrate the delicate balance between growth and stress tolerance, to reset cellular biochemistry once stress vanishes, or to keep a molecular memory, which enables survival of a harsher stress that may arise later. Although there are several examples of memory in diverse plants species, the molecular machinery underlying the formation, duration, and resetting of stress memories is largely unknown so far. We report here that autophagy, a central self-degradative process, assists in resetting cellular memory of heat stress (HS) in Arabidopsis thaliana. Autophagy is induced by thermopriming (moderate HS) and, intriguingly, remains high long after stress termination. We demonstrate that autophagy mediates the specific degradation of heat shock proteins at later stages of the thermorecovery phase leading to the accumulation of protein aggregates after the second HS and a compromised heat tolerance. Autophagy mutants retain heat shock proteins longer than wild type and concomitantly display improved thermomemory. Our findings reveal a novel regulatory mechanism for HS memory in plants.

A facile forward-genetic screen for Arabidopsis autophagy mutants reveals twenty-one loss-of-function mutations disrupting six ATG genes

Macroautophagy is a process through which eukaryotic cells degrade large substrates including organelles, protein aggregates, and invading pathogens. Over 40 autophagy-related (ATG) genes have been identified through forward-genetic screens in yeast. Although homology-based analyses have identified conserved ATG genes in plants, only a few atg mutants have emerged from forward-genetic screens in Arabidopsis thaliana. We developed a screen that consistently recovers Arabidopsis atg mutations by exploiting mutants with defective LON2/At5g47040, a protease implicated in peroxisomal quality control. Arabidopsis lon2 mutants exhibit reduced responsiveness to the peroxisomally-metabolized auxin precursor indole-3-butyric acid (IBA), heightened degradation of several peroxisomal matrix proteins, and impaired processing of proteins harboring N-terminal peroxisomal targeting signals; these defects are ameliorated by preventing autophagy. We optimized a lon2 suppressor screen to expedite recovery of additional atg mutants. After screening mutagenized lon2-2 seedlings for restored IBA responsiveness, we evaluated stabilization and processing of peroxisomal proteins, levels of several ATG proteins, and levels of the selective autophagy receptor NBR1/At4g24690, which accumulates when autophagy is impaired. We recovered 21 alleles disrupting 6 ATG genes: ATG2/At3g19190, ATG3/At5g61500, ATG5/At5g17290, ATG7/At5g45900, ATG16/At5g50230, and ATG18a/At3g62770. Twenty alleles were novel, and 3 of the mutated genes lack T-DNA insertional alleles in publicly available repositories. We also demonstrate that an insertional atg11/At4g30790 allele incompletely suppresses lon2 defects. Finally, we show that NBR1 is not necessary for autophagy of lon2 peroxisomes and that NBR1 overexpression is not sufficient to trigger autophagy of seedling peroxisomes, indicating that Arabidopsis can use an NBR1-independent mechanism to target peroxisomes for autophagic degradation.

Abbreviations: ATG: autophagy-related; ATI: ATG8-interacting protein; Col-0: Columbia-0; DSK2: dominant suppressor of KAR2; EMS: ethyl methanesulfonate; GFP: green fluorescent protein; IAA: indole-3-acetic acid; IBA: indole-3-butyric acid; ICL: isocitrate lyase; MLS: malate synthase; NBR1: Next to BRCA1 gene 1; PEX: peroxin; PMDH: peroxisomal malate dehydrogenase; PTS: peroxisomal targeting signal; thiolase: 3-ketoacyl-CoA thiolase; UBA: ubiquitin-associated; WT: wild type

BZR1 Mediates Brassinosteroid-Induced Autophagy and Nitrogen Starvation in Tomato

Autophagy, an innate cellular destructive mechanism, plays crucial roles in plant development and responses to stress. Autophagy is known to be stimulated or suppressed by multiple molecular processes, but the role of phytohormone signaling in autophagy is unclear. Here, we demonstrate that the transcripts of autophagy-related genes (ATGs) and the formation of autophagosomes are triggered by enhanced levels of brassinosteroid (BR). Furthermore, the BR-activated transcription factor brassinazole-resistant1 (BZR1), a positive regulator of the BR signaling pathway, is involved in BR-induced autophagy. Treatment with BR enhanced the formation of autophagosomes and the transcripts of ATGs in BZR1-overexpressing plants, while the effects of BR were compromised in BZR1-silenced plants. Yeast one-hybrid analysis and chromatin immunoprecipitation coupled with quantitative polymerase chain reaction revealed that BZR1 bound to the promoters of ATG2 and ATG6 The BR-induced formation of autophagosomes decreased in ATG2- and ATG6-silenced plants. Moreover, exogenous application of BR enhanced chlorophyll content and autophagosome formation and decreased the accumulation of ubiquitinated proteins under nitrogen starvation. Leaf chlorosis and chlorophyll degradation were exacerbated in BZR1-silenced plants and the BR biosynthetic mutant d^im but were alleviated in BZR1- and BZR1-1D-overexpressing plants under nitrogen starvation. Meanwhile, nitrogen starvation-induced expression of ATGs and autophagosome formation were compromised in both BZR1-silenced and d^im plants but were increased in BZR1- and BZR1-1D-overexpressing plants. Taken together, our results suggest that BZR1-dependent BR signaling up-regulates the expression of ATGs and autophagosome formation, which plays a critical role in the plant response to nitrogen starvation in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum).

Autophagy in Plants: Both a Puppet and a Puppet Master of Sugars

Autophagy is a major pathway that recycles cellular components in eukaryotic cells both under stressed and non-stressed conditions. Sugars participate both metabolically and as signaling molecules in development and response to various environmental and nutritional conditions. It is therefore essential to maintain metabolic homeostasis of sugars during non-stressed conditions in cells, not only to provide energy, but also to ensure effective signaling when exposed to stress. In both plants and animals, autophagy is activated by the energy sensor SnRK1/AMPK and inhibited by TOR kinase. SnRK1/AMPK and TOR kinases are both important regulators of cellular metabolism and are controlled to a large extent by the availability of sugars and sugar-phosphates in plants whereas in animals AMP/ATP indirectly translate sugar status. In plants, during nutrient and sugar deficiency, SnRK1 is activated, and TOR is inhibited to allow activation of autophagy which in turn recycles cellular components in an attempt to provide stress relief. Autophagy is thus indirectly regulated by the nutrient/sugar status of cells, but also regulates the level of nutrients/sugars by recycling cellular components. In both plants and animals sugars such as trehalose induce autophagy and in animals this is independent of the TOR pathway. The glucose-activated G-protein signaling pathway has also been demonstrated to activate autophagy, although the exact mechanism is not completely clear. This mini-review will focus on the interplay between sugar signaling and autophagy.

A Plant Immune Receptor Degraded by Selective Autophagy

Plants recycle non-activated immune receptors to maintain a functional immune system. The Arabidopsis immune receptor kinase FLAGELLIN-SENSING 2 (FLS2) recognizes bacterial flagellin. However, the molecular mechanisms by which non-activated FLS2 and other non-activated plant PRRs are recycled remain not well understood. Here, we provide evidence showing that Arabidopsis orosomucoid (ORM) proteins, which have been known to be negative regulators of sphingolipid biosynthesis, act as selective autophagy receptors to mediate the degradation of FLS2. Arabidopsis plants overexpressing ORM1 or ORM2 have undetectable or greatly diminished FLS2 accumulation, nearly lack FLS2 signaling, and are more susceptible to the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae. On the other hand, ORM1/2 RNAi plants and orm1 or orm2 mutants generated by the CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing have increased FLS2 accumulation and enhanced FLS2 signaling, and are more resistant to P. syringae. ORM proteins interact with FLS2 and the autophagy-related protein ATG8. Interestingly, overexpression of ORM1 or ORM2 in autophagy-defective mutants showed FLS2 abundance that is comparable to that in wild-type plants. Moreover, FLS2 levels were not decreased in Arabidopsis plants overexpressing ORM1/2 derivatives that do not interact with ATG8. Taken together, these results suggest that selective autophagy functions in maintaining the homeostasis of a plant immune receptor and that beyond sphingolipid metabolic regulation ORM proteins can also act as selective autophagy receptors.

Regulatory Mechanisms of Mitochondrial Autophagy: Lessons From Yeast

Mitochondria produce the majority of ATP required by cells via oxidative phosphorylation. Therefore, regulation of mitochondrial quality and quantity is important for maintaining cellular activities. Mitophagy, the selective degradation of mitochondria, is thought to contribute to control of mitochondrial quality and quantity. In recent years, the molecular mechanism of mitophagy has been extensively studied in yeast and mammalian cells. In particular, identification of the mitophagy receptor Atg32 has contributed to substantial progress in understanding of mitophagy in yeast. This review summarizes the molecular mechanism of mitophagy in yeast and compares it to the mechanism of mitophagy in mammals. We also discuss the current understanding of mitophagy in plants.

Marchantia polymorpha, a New Model Plant for Autophagy Studies

Autophagy is a catabolic process for bulk and selective degradation of cytoplasmic components in the vacuole/lysosome. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, ATG genes were identified as essential genes for autophagy, and most ATG genes are highly conserved among eukaryotes, including plants. Although reverse genetic analyses have revealed that autophagy is involved in responses to abiotic and biotic stresses in land plants, our knowledge of its molecular mechanism remains limited. This limitation is partly because of the multiplication of some ATG genes, including ATG8, in widely used model plants such as Arabidopsis thaliana, which adds complexity to functional studies. Furthermore, due to limited information on the composition and functions of the ATG genes in basal land plants and charophytes, it remains unclear whether multiplication of ATG genes is associated with neofunctionalization of these genes. To gain insight into the diversification of ATG genes during plant evolution, we compared the composition of ATG genes in plants with a special focus on a liverwort and two charophytes, which have not previously been analyzed. Our results showed that the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha and the charophytes Klebsormidium nitens and Chara braunii harbor fundamental sets of ATG genes with low redundancy compared with those of A. thaliana and the moss Physcomitrella patens, suggesting that multiplication of ATG genes occurred during land plant evolution. We also attempted to establish an experimental system for analyzing autophagy in M. polymorpha. We generated transgenic plants expressing fluorescently tagged MpATG8 to observe its dynamics in M. polymorpha and produced autophagy-defective mutants by genome editing using the CRISPR/Cas9 system. These tools allowed us to demonstrate that MpATG8 is transported into the vacuole in an MpATG2-, MpATG5-, and MpATG7-dependent manner, suggesting that fluorescently tagged MpATG8 can be used as an autophagosome marker in M. polymorpha. M. polymorpha can provide a powerful system for studying the mechanisms and evolution of autophagy in plants.

Autophagy in Plant Immunity

The highly conserved catabolic process of autophagy delivers unwanted proteins or damaged organelles to vacuoles for degradation and recycling. This is essential for the regulation of cellular homeostasis, stress adaptation, and programmed cell death in eukaryotes. In particular, emerging evidence indicates that autophagy plays a multifunctional regulatory role in plant innate immunity during plant-pathogen interactions. In this review, we highlight existing knowledge regarding the involvement of autophagy in plant immunity, mechanisms functioning in the induction of autophagy upon pathogen infection, and possible directions for future research.

Plant autophagy: new flavors on the menu

Autophagy mediates the delivery of cytoplasmic content to vacuoles or lysosomes for degradation or storage. The best characterized autophagy route called macroautophagy involves the sequestration of cargo in double-membrane autophagosomes and is conserved in eukaryotes, including plants. Recently, several new receptors, some of them plant-specific, that select cargo for macroautophagy have been identified. Some of these receptors appear to participate in regulation of competing catabolic pathways, for example proteasome-mediated versus autophagic degradation under specific stress conditions. Vacuolar microautophagy, a process by which the vacuole directly engulf cytoplasmic material, also occurs in plants but its underlying molecular mechanisms are yet to be elucidated.

Maize multi-omics reveal roles for autophagic recycling in proteome remodelling and lipid turnover

The turnover of cytoplasmic material by autophagic encapsulation and delivery to vacuoles is essential for recycling cellular constituents, especially under nutrient-limiting conditions. To determine how cells/tissues rely on autophagy, we applied in-depth multi-omic analyses to study maize (Zea mays) autophagy mutants grown under nitrogen-replete and -starvation conditions. Broad alterations in the leaf metabolome were evident in plants missing the core autophagy component ATG12, even in the absence of stress, particularly affecting products of lipid turnover and secondary metabolites, which were underpinned by substantial changes in the transcriptome and/or proteome. Cross-comparison of messenger RNA and protein abundances allowed for the identification of organelles, protein complexes and individual proteins targeted for selective autophagic clearance, and revealed several processes controlled by this catabolism. Collectively, we describe a facile multi-omic strategy to survey autophagic substrates, and show that autophagy has a remarkable influence in sculpting eukaryotic proteomes and membranes both before and during nutrient stress.

Review: Selective degradation of peroxisome by autophagy in plants: Mechanisms, functions, and perspectives

Peroxisome, a single-membrane organelle conserved in eukaryotic, is responsible for a series of oxidative reactions with its specific enzymatic components. A counterbalance between peroxisome biogenesis and degradation is crucial for the homeostasis of peroxisomes. One such degradation mechanism, termed pexophagy, is a type of selective autophagic process to deliver the excess/damaged peroxisomes into the vacuole. In plants, pexophagy is involved in the remodeling of seedlings and quality control of peroxisomes. Here, we describe the recent advance in plant pexophagy, with a focus to discuss the key regulators in plants in comparison with those in yeast and mammals, as well as future directions for pexophagy studies in plants.

Autophagosome Biogenesis and the Endoplasmic Reticulum: A Plant Perspective

The autophagosome is a double-membrane compartment formed during autophagy that sequesters and delivers cargoes for their degradation or recycling into the vacuole. Analyses of the AuTophaGy-related (ATG) proteins have unveiled dynamic mechanisms for autophagosome biogenesis. Recent advances in plant autophagy research highlight a complex interplay between autophagosome biogenesis and the endoplasmic reticulum (ER): on the one hand ER serves as a membrane source for autophagosome initiation and a signaling platform for autophagy regulation; on the other hand ER turnover is connected to selective autophagy. We provide here an integrated view of ER-based autophagosome biogenesis in plants in comparison with the newest findings in yeast and mammals, with an emphasis on the hierarchy of the core ATG proteins, ATG9 trafficking, and ER-resident regulators in autophagy.

Molecular Mechanisms Preventing Senescence in Response to Prolonged Darkness in a Desiccation-Tolerant Plant

The desiccation-tolerant plant Haberlea rhodopensis can withstand months of darkness without any visible senescence. Here, we investigated the molecular mechanisms of this adaptation to prolonged (30 d) darkness and subsequent return to light. H. rhodopensis plants remained green and viable throughout the dark treatment. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that darkness regulated several transcription factor (TF) genes. Stress- and autophagy-related TFs such as ERF8, HSFA2b, RD26, TGA1, and WRKY33 were up-regulated, while chloroplast- and flowering-related TFs such as ATH1, COL2, COL4, RL1, and PTAC7 were repressed. PHYTOCHROME INTERACTING FACTOR4, a negative regulator of photomorphogenesis and promoter of senescence, also was down-regulated. In response to darkness, most of the photosynthesis- and photorespiratory-related genes were strongly down-regulated, while genes related to autophagy were up-regulated. This occurred concomitant with the induction of SUCROSE NON-FERMENTING1-RELATED PROTEIN KINASES (SnRK1) signaling pathway genes, which regulate responses to stress-induced starvation and autophagy. Most of the genes associated with chlorophyll catabolism, which are induced by darkness in dark-senescing species, were either unregulated (PHEOPHORBIDE A OXYGENASE, PAO; RED CHLOROPHYLL CATABOLITE REDUCTASE, RCCR) or repressed (STAY GREEN-LIKE, PHEOPHYTINASE, and NON-YELLOW COLORING1). Metabolite profiling revealed increases in the levels of many amino acids in darkness, suggesting increased protein degradation. In darkness, levels of the chloroplastic lipids digalactosyldiacylglycerol, monogalactosyldiacylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, and sulfoquinovosyldiacylglycerol decreased, while those of storage triacylglycerols increased, suggesting degradation of chloroplast membrane lipids and their conversion to triacylglycerols for use as energy and carbon sources. Collectively, these data show a coordinated response to darkness, including repression of photosynthetic, photorespiratory, flowering, and chlorophyll catabolic genes, induction of autophagy and SnRK1 pathways, and metabolic reconfigurations that enable survival under prolonged darkness.

Analysis of Autophagic Activity Using ATG8 Lipidation Assay in Arabidopsis thaliana

As a fundamental metabolic pathway to degrade and recycle cellular cargos, autophagy is highly induced upon stress, starvation and senescence conditions in plants. A double-membrane structure named autophagosome will form during this process for cargo sequestration and delivery into the vacuole. A number of regulators have been characterized in plants, including the autophagy-related (ATG) proteins and other plant-specific proteins. Among them, ATG8 will undergo a lipidation process to become a membrane-bound ATG8-phosphatidylethanolamine form and mark the growing autophagosomal membrane as well as the completed autophagosome. Therefore, ATG8 has been regarded as a marker for autophagosomes; and biochemical detection of the membrane-associated form of ATG8 is used as one of the principal methods for measurement of autophagic activity. Here, we describe an ATG8 lipidation assay for detection of the ATG8-PE form using Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings.

Genome-wide analysis of autophagy-related genes (ARGs) in grapevine and plant tolerance to copper stress

Grapevine autophagy-related genes (ARGs) include 35 members that have unique evolutionary backgrounds and expression patterns, with some of them responding to abiotic stresses, including copper stress. Autophagy is one of the most crucial self-regulating phenomena in livings organisms, including animals, plants, yeasts, etc. In the genomes of plants, like Arabidopsis, rice, tobacco, and barley, more than 30 autophagy-related genes (ARGs) have been found. These ARGs are involved in plant development, programed cell death, and the stress response process. In plants, and particularly in grapevine, high copper stress results from the application of the Bordeaux mixture, a widely used fungicide. However, the function of autophagy in plant tolerance to copper stress is unknown. Accordingly, in this study, a genome-wide analysis was performed to identify Vitis vinifera ARGs (VvARGs), and 35 VvARGs were detected. A gene family analysis revealed that the tandem and segmental duplication events played significant roles in the VvARG gene family expansion. Moreover, there was more intense signature of purifying selection for the comparison between grape and rice than between grape and Arabidopsis. In response to copper treatment, both the autophagosome number and malondialdehyde concentration increased during the initial 4 h post-treatment, and reached maximal values at 24 h. An expression analysis indicated that most VvARGs responded to copper stress at 4 h post-treatment, and some VvARGs (e.g., VvATG6, VvATG8i, and VvATG18h) exhibited responses to most abiotic stresses. These results provide a detailed overview of the ARGs in grapevine and indicate multiple functions of autophagy in fruit development and abiotic stresses in grapevine. The key ARG (e.g., ATG8i) should be investigated in more detail in grapevine and other plant species.

Mitophagy: A Mechanism for Plant Growth and Survival

Mitophagy is a conserved cellular process that is important for autophagic removal of damaged mitochondria to maintain a healthy mitochondrial population. Mitophagy also appears to occur in plants and has roles in development, stress response, senescence, and programmed cell death. However, many of the genes that control mitophagy in yeast and animal cells are absent from plants, and no plant proteins marking defunct mitochondria for autophagic degradation are yet known. New insights implicate general autophagy-related proteins in mitophagy, affecting the senescence of plant tissues. Mitophagy control and its importance for energy metabolism, survival, signaling, and cell death in plants are discussed. Furthermore, we suggest mitochondrial membrane proteins containing ATG8-interacting motifs, which might serve as mitophagy receptor proteins in plant mitochondria.

Autophagy: The Master of Bulk and Selective Recycling

Plants have evolved sophisticated mechanisms to recycle intracellular constituents, which are essential for developmental and metabolic transitions; for efficient nutrient reuse; and for the proper disposal of proteins, protein complexes, and even entire organelles that become obsolete or dysfunctional. One major route is autophagy, which employs specialized vesicles to encapsulate and deliver cytoplasmic material to the vacuole for breakdown. In the past decade, the mechanics of autophagy and the scores of components involved in autophagic vesicle assembly have been documented. Now emerging is the importance of dedicated receptors that help recruit appropriate cargo, which in many cases exploit ubiquitylation as a signal. Although operating at a low constitutive level in all plant cells, autophagy is upregulated during senescence and various environmental challenges and is essential for proper nutrient allocation. Its importance to plant metabolism and energy balance in particular places autophagy at the nexus of robust crop performance, especially under suboptimal conditions.

Loss of alkaline ceramidase inhibits autophagy in Arabidopsis and plays an important role during environmental stress response

Sphingolipids, a class of bioactive lipids found in cell membranes, can modulate the biophysical properties of the membranes and play a critical role in signal transduction. Sphingolipids are involved in autophagy in humans and yeast, but their role in autophagy in plants is not well understood. In this study, we reported that the AtACER, an alkaline ceramidase that hydrolyses ceramide to long-chain base (LCB), functions in autophagy process in Arabidopsis. Our empirical data showed that the loss of AtACER inhibited autophagy, and its overexpression promoted autophagy under nutrient, salinity, and oxidative stresses. Interestingly, nitrogen deprivation significantly affected the sphingolipid's profile in Arabidopsis thaliana, especially the LCBs. Furthermore, the exogenous application of LCBs also induced autophagy. Our findings revealed a novel function of AtACER, where it was found to involve in the autophagy process, thus, playing a crucial role in the maintenance of a dynamic loop between sphingolipids and autophagy for cellular homeostasis under various environmental stresses.

Autophagy-related (ATG) 11, ATG9 and the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase control ATG2-mediated formation of autophagosomes in Arabidopsis

Using quantitative assays for autophagy, we analyzed 4 classes of atg mutants, discovered new atg2 phenotypes and ATG gene interactions, and proposed a model of autophagosome formation in plants. Plant and other eukaryotic cells use autophagy to target cytoplasmic constituents for degradation in the vacuole. Autophagy is regulated and executed by a conserved set of proteins called autophagy-related (ATG). In Arabidopsis, several groups of ATG proteins have been characterized using genetic approaches. However, the genetic interactions between ATG genes have not been established and the relationship between different ATG groups in plants remains unclear. Here we analyzed atg2, atg7, atg9, and atg11 mutants and their double mutants at the physiological, biochemical, and subcellular levels. Involvement of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) in autophagy was also tested using wortmannin, a PI3K inhibitor. Our mutant analysis using autophagy markers showed that atg7 and atg2 phenotypes are more severe than those of atg11 and atg9. Unlike other mutants, atg2 cells accumulated several autophagic vesicles that could not be delivered to the vacuole. Analysis of atg double mutants, combined with wortmannin treatment, indicated that ATG11, PI3K, and ATG9 act upstream of ATG2. Our data support a model in which plant ATG1 and PI3K complexes play a role in the initiation of autophagy, whereas ATG2 is involved in a later step during the biogenesis of autophagic vesicles.

Lipids in membrane dynamics during autophagy in plants

Autophagy is a critical pathway for plant adaptation to stress. Macroautophagy relies on the biogenesis of a specialized membrane named the phagophore that maturates into a double membrane vesicle. Proteins and lipids act synergistically to promote membrane structure and functions, yet research on autophagy has mostly focused on autophagy-related proteins while knowledge of supporting lipids in the formation of autophagic membranes remains scarce. This review expands on studies in plants with examples from other organisms to present and discuss our current understanding of lipids in membrane dynamics associated with the autophagy pathway in plants.

Autophagy-related approaches for improving nutrient use efficiency and crop yield protection

Autophagy is a eukaryotic catabolic pathway essential for growth and development. In plants, it is activated in response to environmental cues or developmental stimuli. However, in contrast to other eukaryotic systems, we know relatively little regarding the molecular players involved in autophagy and the regulation of this complex pathway. In the framework of the COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) action TRANSAUTOPHAGY (2016-2020), we decided to review our current knowledge of autophagy responses in higher plants, with emphasis on knowledge gaps. We also assess here the potential of translating the acquired knowledge to improve crop plant growth and development in a context of growing social and environmental challenges for agriculture in the near future.

Chloroplast Protein Turnover: The Influence of Extraplastidic Processes, Including Autophagy

Most assimilated nutrients in the leaves of land plants are stored in chloroplasts as photosynthetic proteins, where they mediate CO₂ assimilation during growth. During senescence or under suboptimal conditions, chloroplast proteins are degraded, and the amino acids released during this process are used to produce young tissues, seeds, or respiratory energy. Protein degradation machineries contribute to the quality control of chloroplasts by removing damaged proteins caused by excess energy from sunlight. Whereas previous studies revealed that chloroplasts contain several types of intraplastidic proteases that likely derived from an endosymbiosed prokaryotic ancestor of chloroplasts, recent reports have demonstrated that multiple extraplastidic pathways also contribute to chloroplast protein turnover in response to specific cues. One such pathway is autophagy, an evolutionarily conserved process that leads to the vacuolar or lysosomal degradation of cytoplasmic components in eukaryotic cells. Here, we describe and contrast the extraplastidic pathways that degrade chloroplasts. This review shows that diverse pathways participate in chloroplast turnover during sugar starvation, senescence, and oxidative stress. Elucidating the mechanisms that regulate these pathways will help decipher the relationship among the diverse pathways mediating chloroplast protein turnover.

Vacuolar degradation of chloroplast components: autophagy and beyond

Chloroplast degradation during natural or stress-induced senescence requires the participation of both plastidic and extraplastidic degradative pathways. As part of the extraplastidic pathways, chloroplasts export stroma, envelope, and thylakoid proteins in membrane-bound organelles that are ultimately degraded in vacuoles. Some of these pathways, such as the formation of senescence-associated vacuoles (SAVs) and CV-containing vesicles (CCVs), do not depend on autophagy, whereas delivery of Rubisco-containing bodies (RCBs), ATI1-PS (ATG8-interacting Protein 1) bodies, and small starch-like granule (SSLG) bodies is autophagy dependent. In addition, autophagy of entire chloroplasts delivers damaged chloroplasts into the vacuolar lumen for degradation. This review summarizes the autophagy-dependent and independent trafficking mechanisms by which plant cells degrade chloroplast components in vacuoles.

Proteasome-independent functions of lysine-63 polyubiquitination in plants

Contents Summary 995 I. Introduction 995 II. The plant Ub machinery 996 III. From Ub to Ub linkage types in plants 997 IV. Increasing analytical resolution for K63 polyUb in plants 998 V. How to build K63 polyUb chains? 998 VI. Cellular roles of K63 polyUb in plants 999 VII. Physiological roles of K63 polyUb in plants 1004 VIII. Future perspectives: towards the next level of the Ub code 1006 Acknowledgements 1006 References 1007 SUMMARY: Ubiquitination is a post-translational modification essential for the regulation of eukaryotic proteins, having an impact on protein fate, function, localization or activity. What originally appeared to be a simple system to regulate protein turnover by the 26S proteasome is now known to be the most intricate regulatory process cells have evolved. Ubiquitin can be arranged in countless chain assemblies, triggering various cellular outcomes. Polyubiquitin chains using lysine-63 from ubiquitin represent the second most abundant type of ubiquitin modification. Recent studies have exposed their common function in proteasome-independent functions in non-plant model organisms. The existence of lysine-63 polyubiquitination in plants is, however, only just emerging. In this review, we discuss the recent advances on the characterization of ubiquitin chains and the molecular mechanisms driving the formation of lysine-63-linked ubiquitin modifications. We provide an overview of the roles associated with lysine-63 polyubiquitination in plant cells in the light of what is known in non-plant models. Finally, we review the crucial roles of lysine-63 polyubiquitin-dependent processes in plant growth, development and responses to environmental conditions.

Multiscale and Multimodal Approaches to Study Autophagy in Model Plants

Autophagy is a catabolic process used by eukaryotic cells to maintain or restore cellular and organismal homeostasis. A better understanding of autophagy in plant biology could lead to an improvement of the recycling processes of plant cells and thus contribute, for example, towards reducing the negative ecological consequences of nitrogen-based fertilizers in agriculture. It may also help to optimize plant adaptation to adverse biotic and abiotic conditions through appropriate plant breeding or genetic engineering to incorporate useful traits in relation to this catabolic pathway. In this review, we describe useful protocols for studying autophagy in the plant cell, taking into account some specificities of the plant model.

The Vacuolar Protein Sorting-38 Subunit of the Arabidopsis Phosphatidylinositol-3-Kinase Complex Plays Critical Roles in Autophagy, Endosome Sorting, and Gravitropism

The family of phosphatidylinositols (PtdIns) plays essential roles in membrane identity and intracellular trafficking events. In animals and yeast, PtdIn-3-phosphate, which is particularly important for endosomal sorting, lysosomal/vacuolar transport and autophagy, is assembled by two conserved kinase complexes comprised of the catalytic VACUOLAR PROTEIN SORTING (VPS)-34 subunit, along with VPS15, AUTOPHAGY-RELATED (ATG)-6, and either ATG14 (complex I) or VPS38 (complex II). Here, we describe the Arabidopsis ortholog of VPS38 and show by interaction assays that it assembles into a tetrameric PtdIn-3 kinase complex II. Plants missing VPS38 are viable but have dampened pollen germination and heightened seed abortion, and display a dwarf rosette phenotype, with defects in leaf and vascular development and sucrose sensing. vps38 seeds accumulate irregular protein storage vesicles and suppress processing of storage proteins into their mature forms. Consistent with a role for PtdIn-3-phosphate in autophagy, vps38 mutants are hypersensitive to nitrogen and fixed-carbon starvation and show reduced autophagic transport of cargo into vacuoles. vps38 seedlings also have dampened root gravitropism, which is underpinned by aberrant vectoral auxin transport likely caused by defects in plasma membrane/endosome cycling of the PIN-FORMED family of auxin transporters necessary for asymmetric cell elongation. Collectively, this study places VPS38 and its class-III PtdIn-3 kinase complex at the nexus of numerous endosomal trafficking events important to plant growth and development.

Fission and Fusion of Plant Mitochondria, and Genome Maintenance

Dynamic changes maintain a multipartite mitochondrial genome meets the changing needs of plant cells.

Macroautophagy occurs in distal TMV-uninfected root tip tissue of tomato taking place systemic PCD

Autophagy is an important mechanism for recycling cell materials upon encountering stress conditions. Our previous studies had shown that TMV infection could lead to systemic PCD in the distal uninfected tissues, including root tip and shoot tip tissues. But it is not clear whether there is autophagy in the distal apical meristem of TMV-induced plants. To better understand the autophagy process during systemic PCD, here we investigated the formation and type of autophagy in the root meristem cells occurring PCD. Transmission electron microscopy assay revealed that the autophagic structures formed by the fusion of vesicles, containing the sequestered cytoplasm, multilamellar bodies, and degraded mitochondria. In the PCD progress, many mitochondria appeared degradation with blurred inner membrane structure. And the endoplasmic reticulum was broke into small fragments. Finally, the damaged mitochodria were engulfed and degraded by the autophagosomes. These results indicated that during the systemic PCD process of root tip cells, the classical macroautophagy occurred, and the cell contents and damaged organelles (mitochondria) would be self-digested by autophagy.

Understanding and exploiting autophagy signaling in plants

Autophagy is an essential catabolic pathway and is activated by various endogenous and exogenous stimuli. In particular, autophagy is required to allow sessile organisms such as plants to cope with biotic or abiotic stress conditions. It is thought that these various environmental signaling pathways are somehow integrated with autophagy signaling. However, the molecular mechanisms of plant autophagy signaling are not well understood, leaving a big gap of knowledge as a barrier to being able to manipulate this important pathway to improve plant growth and development. In this review, we discuss possible regulatory mechanisms at the core of plant autophagy signaling.

Autophagy as a mediator of life and death in plants

Autophagy is a major pathway for degradation and recycling of cytoplasmic material, including individual proteins, aggregates, and entire organelles. Autophagic processes serve mainly survival functions in cellular homeostasis, stress adaptation and immune responses but can also have death-promoting activities in different eukaryotic organisms. In plants, the role of autophagy in the regulation of programmed cell death (PCD) remained elusive and a subject of debate. More recent evidence, however, has resulted in the consensus that autophagy can either promote or restrict different forms of PCD. Here, we present latest advances in understanding the molecular mechanisms and functions of plant autophagy and discuss their implications for life and death decisions in the context of developmental and pathogen-induced PCD.

Two Independent Pathways within Selective Autophagy Converge to Activate Atg1 Kinase at the Vacuole

Autophagy is a potent cellular degradation pathway, and its activation needs to be tightly controlled. Cargo receptors mediate selectivity during autophagy by bringing cargo to the scaffold protein Atg11 and, in turn, to the autophagic machinery, including the central autophagy kinase Atg1. Here we show how selective autophagy is tightly regulated in space and time to prevent aberrant Atg1 kinase activation and autophagy induction. We established an induced bypass approach (iPass) that combines genetic deletion with chemically induced dimerization to evaluate the roles of Atg13 and cargo receptors in Atg1 kinase activation and selective autophagy progression. We show that Atg1 activation does not require cargo receptors, cargo-bound Atg11, or Atg13 per se. Rather, these proteins function in two independent pathways that converge to activate Atg1 at the vacuole. This pathway architecture underlies the spatiotemporal control of Atg1 kinase activity, thereby preventing inappropriate autophagosome formation.

Degradation of cytosolic ribosomes by autophagy-related pathways

Ribosomes are essential molecular machines that require a large cellular investment, yet the mechanisms of their turnover are not well understood in any eukaryotic organism. Recent advances in Arabidopsis suggest that plants utilize selective mechanisms to transport rRNA or ribosomes to the vacuole, where rRNA is degraded and the breakdown products recycled to maintain cellular homeostasis. This review focuses on known mechanisms of rRNA turnover and explores unanswered questions on the specificity and pathways of ribosome turnover and the role of this process in maintenance of cellular homeostasis.

New advances in autophagy in plants: Regulation, selectivity and function

Autophagy is a major and conserved pathway for delivering unwanted proteins or damaged organelles to the vacuole for degradation and recycling. In plants, it functions as a housekeeping process to maintain cellular homeostasis under normal conditions and is induced by stress and senescence; it thus plays important roles in development, stress tolerance and metabolism. Autophagy can both execute bulk degradation and be highly selective in targeting cargos under specific environmental conditions or during certain developmental processes. Here, we review recent research on autophagy in plants, and discuss new insights into its core mechanism, regulation, selectivity and physiological roles. Potential future directions are also highlighted.

Endocytosis of AtRGS1 Is Regulated by the Autophagy Pathway after D-Glucose Stimulation

Sugar, as a signal molecule, has significant functions in signal transduction in which the seven-transmembrane regulator of G-protein signaling (RGS1) protein participates. D-Glucose causes endocytosis of the AtRGS1, leading to the physical uncoupling of AtRGS1 from AtGPA1 and thus a release of the GAP activity and concomitant sustained activation of G-protein signaling. Autophagy involves in massive degradation and recycling of cytoplasmic components to survive environmental stresses. The function of autophagy in AtRGS1 endocytosis during D-glucose stimulation has not been elucidated. In this study, we investigate the relationship between autophagy and AtRGS1 in response to D-glucose. Our findings demonstrated that AtRGS1 mediated the activation of autophagy by affecting the activities of the five functional groups of protein complexes and promoted the formation of autophagosomes under D-glucose application. When the autophagy pathway was interrupted, AtRGS1 recovery increased and endocytosis of ATRGS1 was inhibited, indicating that autophagy pathway plays an important role in regulating the endocytosis and recovery of AtRGS1 after D-glucose stimulation.

To deliver or to degrade - an interplay of the ubiquitin-proteasome system, autophagy and vesicular transport in plants

The efficient utilization and subsequent reuse of cell components is a key factor in determining the proper growth and functioning of all cells under both optimum and stress conditions. The process of intracellular and intercellular recycling is especially important for the appropriate control of cellular metabolism and nutrient management in immobile organisms, such as plants. Therefore, the accurate recycling of amino acids, lipids, carbohydrates or micro- and macronutrients available in the plant cell becomes a critical factor that ensures plant survival and growth. Plant cells possess two main degradation mechanisms: a ubiquitin-proteasome system and autophagy, which, as a part of an intracellular trafficking system, is based on vesicle transport. This review summarizes knowledge of both the ubiquitin-proteasome system and autophagy pathways, describes the cross-talk between the two and discusses the relationships between autophagy and the vesicular transport systems.

Mass Spectrometric Analyses Reveal a Central Role for Ubiquitylation in Remodeling the Arabidopsis Proteome during Photomorphogenesis

The switch from skotomorphogenesis to photomorphogenesis is a key developmental transition in the life of seed plants. While much of the underpinning proteome remodeling is driven by light-induced changes in gene expression, the proteolytic removal of specific proteins by the ubiquitin-26S proteasome system is also likely paramount. Through mass spectrometric analysis of ubiquitylated proteins affinity-purified from etiolated Arabidopsis seedlings before and after red-light irradiation, we identified a number of influential proteins whose ubiquitylation status is modified during this switch. We observed a substantial enrichment for proteins involved in auxin, abscisic acid, ethylene, and brassinosteroid signaling, peroxisome function, disease resistance, protein phosphorylation and light perception, including the phytochrome (Phy) A and phototropin photoreceptors. Soon after red-light treatment, PhyA becomes the dominant ubiquitylated species, with ubiquitin attachment sites mapped to six lysines. A PhyA mutant protected from ubiquitin addition at these sites is substantially more stable in planta upon photoconversion to Pfr and is hyperactive in driving photomorphogenesis. However, light still stimulates ubiquitylation and degradation of this mutant, implying that other attachment sites and/or proteolytic pathways exist. Collectively, we expand the catalog of ubiquitylation targets in Arabidopsis and show that this post-translational modification is central to the rewiring of plants for photoautotrophic growth.

TRAF Family Proteins Regulate Autophagy Dynamics by Modulating AUTOPHAGY PROTEIN6 Stability in Arabidopsis

Eukaryotic cells use autophagy to recycle cellular components. During autophagy, autophagosomes deliver cytoplasmic contents to the vacuole or lysosome for breakdown. Mammalian cells regulate the dynamics of autophagy via ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis of autophagy proteins. Here, we show that the Arabidopsis thaliana Tumor necrosis factor Receptor-Associated Factor (TRAF) family proteins TRAF1a and TRAF1b (previously named MUSE14 and MUSE13, respectively) help regulate autophagy via ubiquitination. Upon starvation, cytoplasmic TRAF1a and TRAF1b translocated to autophagosomes. Knockout traf1a/b lines showed reduced tolerance to nutrient deficiency, increased salicylic acid and reactive oxygen species levels, and constitutive cell death in rosettes, resembling the phenotypes of autophagy-defective mutants. Starvation-activated autophagosome accumulation decreased in traf1a/b root cells, indicating that TRAF1a and TRAF1b function redundantly in regulating autophagosome formation. TRAF1a and TRAF1b interacted in planta with ATG6 and the RING finger E3 ligases SINAT1, SINAT2, and SINAT6 (with a truncated RING-finger domain). SINAT1 and SINAT2 require the presence of TRAF1a and TRAF1b to ubiquitinate and destabilize AUTOPHAGY PROTEIN6 (ATG6) in vivo. Conversely, starvation-induced SINAT6 reduced SINAT1- and SINAT2-mediated ubiquitination and degradation of ATG6. Consistently, SINAT1/SINAT2 and SINAT6 knockout mutants exhibited increased tolerance and sensitivity, respectively, to nutrient starvation. Therefore, TRAF1a and TRAF1b function as molecular adaptors that help regulate autophagy by modulating ATG6 stability in Arabidopsis.

Molecular Mechanisms of Autophagy in Plants: Role of ATG8 Proteins in Formation and Functioning of Autophagosomes

Autophagy is an efficient way of degradation and removal of unwanted or damaged intracellular components in plant cells. It plays an important role in recycling of intracellular structures (during starvation, removal of cell components formed during plant development or damaged by various stress factors) and in programmed cell death. Morphologically, autophagy is characterized by the formation of double-membrane vesicles called autophagosomes, which are essential for the isolation and degradation of cytoplasmic components. Among autophagic (ATG) proteins, ATG8 from the ubiquitin-like protein family plays a key role in autophagosome formation. ATG8 is also involved in selective autophagy, fusion of autophagosome with the vacuole, and some other intracellular processes not associated with autophagy. In contrast to yeasts that carry a single ATG8 gene, plants have multigene ATG8 families. The reason for such great ATG8 diversity in plants remains unclear. It is also unknown whether all members of the ATG8 family are involved in the formation and functioning of autophagosomes. To answer these questions, the identification of the structure and the possible functions of plant proteins from ATG8 family is required. In this review, we analyze the structures of ATG8 proteins from plants and their homologs from yeast and animal cells, interactions of ATG8 proteins with functional ligands, and involvement of ATG8 proteins in different metabolic processes in eukaryotes.

ATG9 regulates autophagosome progression from the endoplasmic reticulum in Arabidopsis

Autophagy is a conserved pathway for bulk degradation of cytoplasmic material by a double-membrane structure named the autophagosome. The initiation of autophagosome formation requires the recruitment of autophagy-related protein 9 (ATG9) vesicles to the preautophagosomal structure. However, the functional relationship between ATG9 vesicles and the phagophore is controversial in different systems, and the molecular function of ATG9 remains unknown in plants. Here, we demonstrate that ATG9 is essential for endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-derived autophagosome formation in plants. Through a combination of genetic, in vivo imaging and electron tomography approaches, we show that Arabidopsis ATG9 deficiency leads to a drastic accumulation of autophagosome-related tubular structures in direct membrane continuity with the ER upon autophagic induction. Dynamic analyses demonstrate a transient membrane association between ATG9 vesicles and the autophagosomal membrane during autophagy. Furthermore, trafficking of ATG18a is compromised in atg9 mutants during autophagy by forming extended tubules in a phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate-dependent manner. Taken together, this study provides evidence for a pivotal role of ATG9 in regulating autophagosome progression from the ER membrane in Arabidopsis.

The AMP-Activated Protein Kinase KIN10 Is Involved in the Regulation of Autophagy in Arabidopsis

Autophagy is a highly conserved system in eukaryotes for the bulk degradation and recycling of intracellular components. Autophagy is involved in many physiological processes including development, senescence, and responses to abiotic and biotic stress. The adenosine 5'-monophosphate (AMP)-activated protein kinase AMPK positively regulates autophagy in mammals; however, the potential function of AMPK in plant autophagy remains largely unknown. Here, we identified KIN10, a plant ortholog of the mammalian AMPK, as a positive regulator of plant autophagy and showed that it acts by affecting the phosphorylation of ATG1 (AUTOPHAGY-RELATED GENE 1) proteins in Arabidopsis. Transgenic Arabidopsis lines overexpressing KIN10 (KIN10-OE) showed delays in leaf senescence, and increased tolerance to nutrient starvation, these phenotypes required a functional autophagy pathway. Consistent with KIN10 having a potential role in autophagy, the nutrient starvation-induced formation of autophagosomes and cleavage of GFP-ATG8e were accelerated in the KIN10-OE lines compared to the wild type. Moreover, the KIN10-OE lines were less sensitive to drought and hypoxia treatments, compared with wild type. Carbon starvation enhanced the level of phosphorylated YFP-ATG1a in the KIN10-OE lines compared to that of wild type. Together, these findings suggest that KIN10 is involved in positive regulation of autophagy, possibly by affecting the phosphorylation of ATG1s in Arabidopsis.

Biochemical Methods to Monitor Autophagic Responses in Plants

The study of autophagy in plants is rapidly increasing, due to its pivotal and fundamental roles in responding to stressful stimuli, recycling nutrients during senescence, and maintaining growth under normal conditions. Assays for detecting autophagy in plants have generally been based on microscopic observations, providing qualitative information on autophagy activity. Here, we discuss biochemical assays for detecting autophagy, which have the potential for providing more quantitative information, with a focus on immunoblotting with antibodies against ATG8, NBR1, or epitope tags fused to ATG proteins.

Autophagy contributes to regulation of the hypoxia response during submergence in Arabidopsis thaliana

Autophagy involves massive degradation of intracellular components and functions as a conserved system that helps cells to adapt to adverse conditions. In mammals, hypoxia rapidly stimulates autophagy as a cell survival response. Here, we examine the function of autophagy in the regulation of the plant response to submergence, an abiotic stress that leads to hypoxia and anaerobic respiration in plant cells. In Arabidopsis thaliana, submergence induces the transcription of autophagy-related (ATG) genes and the formation of autophagosomes. Consistent with this, the autophagy-defective (atg) mutants are hypersensitive to submergence stress and treatment with ethanol, the end product of anaerobic respiration. Upon submergence, the atg mutants have increased levels of transcripts of anaerobic respiration genes (alcohol dehydrogenase 1, ADH1 and pyruvate decarboxylase 1, PDC1), but reduced levels of transcripts of other hypoxia- and ethylene-responsive genes. Both submergence and ethanol treatments induce the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the rosettes of atg mutants more than in the wild type. Moreover, the production of ROS by the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidases is necessary for plant tolerance to submergence and ethanol, submergence-induced expression of ADH1 and PDC1, and activation of autophagy. The submergence- and ethanol-sensitive phenotypes in the atg mutants depend on a complete salicylic acid (SA) signaling pathway. Together, our findings demonstrate that submergence-induced autophagy functions in the hypoxia response in Arabidopsis by modulating SA-mediated cellular homeostasis.

The mammalian autophagy initiator complex contains 2 HORMA domain proteins

ATG101 is an essential component of the ULK complex responsible for initiating cellular autophagy in mammalian cells; its 3-dimensional structure and molecular function, however, are currently unclear. Here we present the X-ray structure of human ATG101. The protein displays an open HORMA domain fold. Both structural properties and biophysical evidence indicate that ATG101 is locked in this conformation, in contrast to the prototypical HORMA domain protein MAD2. Moreover, we discuss a potential mode of dimerization with ATG13 as a fundamental aspect of ATG101 function.

Autophagy in Dictyostelium: Mechanisms, regulation and disease in a simple biomedical model

Autophagy is a fast-moving field with an enormous impact on human health and disease. Understanding the complexity of the mechanism and regulation of this process often benefits from the use of simple experimental models such as the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum. Since the publication of the first review describing the potential of D. discoideum in autophagy, significant advances have been made that demonstrate both the experimental advantages and interest in using this model. Since our previous review, research in D. discoideum has shed light on the mechanisms that regulate autophagosome formation and contributed significantly to the study of autophagy-related pathologies. Here, we review these advances, as well as the current techniques to monitor autophagy in D. discoideum. The comprehensive bioinformatics search of autophagic proteins that was a substantial part of the previous review has not been revisited here except for those aspects that challenged previous predictions such as the composition of the Atg1 complex. In recent years our understanding of, and ability to investigate, autophagy in D. discoideum has evolved significantly and will surely enable and accelerate future research using this model.

Structural biology of the core autophagy machinery

In autophagy, which is an intracellular degradation system that is conserved among eukaryotes, degradation targets are sequestered through the de novo synthesis of a double-membrane organelle, the autophagosome, which delivers them to the lysosomes for degradation. The core autophagy machinery comprising 18 autophagy-related (Atg) proteins in yeast plays an essential role in autophagosome formation; however, the molecular role of each Atg factor and the mechanism of autophagosome formation remain elusive. Recent years have seen remarkable progress in structural biological studies on the core autophagy machinery, opening new avenues for autophagy research. This review summarizes recent advances in structural biological and mechanistic studies on the core autophagy machinery and discusses the molecular mechanisms of autophagosome formation.