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Erlichman OA, Weiss S, Abu Arkia M, Ankary-Khaner M, Soroka Y, Jasinska W, Rosental L, Brotman Y, Avin-Wittenberg T. Autophagy in maternal tissues contributes to Arabidopsis seed development. Plant Physiol 2023; 193:611-626. [PMID: 37313772 DOI: 10.1093/plphys/kiad350] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2023] [Revised: 05/15/2023] [Accepted: 05/18/2023] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Seeds are an essential food source, providing nutrients for germination and early seedling growth. Degradation events in the seed and the mother plant accompany seed development, including autophagy, which facilitates cellular component breakdown in the lytic organelle. Autophagy influences various aspects of plant physiology, specifically nutrient availability and remobilization, suggesting its involvement in source-sink interactions. During seed development, autophagy affects nutrient remobilization from mother plants and functions in the embryo. However, it is impossible to distinguish between the contribution of autophagy in the source (i.e. the mother plant) and the sink tissue (i.e. the embryo) when using autophagy knockout (atg mutant) plants. To address this, we employed an approach to differentiate between autophagy in source and sink tissues. We investigated how autophagy in the maternal tissue affects seed development by performing reciprocal crosses between wild type and atg mutant Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) plants. Although F1 seedlings possessed a functional autophagy mechanism, etiolated F1 plants from maternal atg mutants displayed reduced growth. This was attributed to altered protein but not lipid accumulation in the seeds, suggesting autophagy differentially regulates carbon and nitrogen remobilization. Surprisingly, F1 seeds of maternal atg mutants exhibited faster germination, resulting from altered seed coat development. Our study emphasizes the importance of examining autophagy in a tissue-specific manner, revealing valuable insights into the interplay between different tissues during seed development. It also sheds light on the tissue-specific functions of autophagy, offering potential for research into the underlying mechanisms governing seed development and crop yield.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ori Avraham Erlichman
- Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Givat Ram, Jerusalem 9190401, Israel
| | - Shahar Weiss
- Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Givat Ram, Jerusalem 9190401, Israel
| | - Maria Abu Arkia
- Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Givat Ram, Jerusalem 9190401, Israel
| | - Moria Ankary-Khaner
- Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Givat Ram, Jerusalem 9190401, Israel
| | - Yoram Soroka
- Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Givat Ram, Jerusalem 9190401, Israel
| | - Weronika Jasinska
- Department of Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 8410501, Israel
| | - Leah Rosental
- Department of Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 8410501, Israel
| | - Yariv Brotman
- Department of Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 8410501, Israel
| | - Tamar Avin-Wittenberg
- Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Givat Ram, Jerusalem 9190401, Israel
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