Autophagy in plants and phytopathogens

Yoshimoto, Kohki; Takano, Yoshitaka; Sakai, Yasuyoshi

doi:10.1016/j.febslet.2010.01.007

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Volume 584, Issue 7 , Pages 1350-1358, 2 April 2010

Autophagy in plants and phytopathogens

Edited by Noboru Mizushima

Kohki Yoshimoto
- Plant Immunity Research Team, RIKEN Plant Science Center, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 230-0045, Japan
- Corresponding authors. Addresses: Plant Immunity Research Team, RIKEN Plant Science Center, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 230-0045, Japan (K. Yoshimoto), Division of Applied Life Sciences, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University 606-8502, Japan (Y. Sakai). Fax: +81 0 45 503 9573 (K. Yoshimoto), +81 0 75 753 6454 (Y. Sakai).
Yoshitaka Takano
- Division of Applied Biosciences, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University 606-8502, Japan
- CREST, Japan Science and Technology Agency, 5, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0075, Japan
Yasuyoshi Sakai
- Division of Applied Life Sciences, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University 606-8502, Japan
- CREST, Japan Science and Technology Agency, 5, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0075, Japan
- Corresponding authors. Addresses: Plant Immunity Research Team, RIKEN Plant Science Center, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 230-0045, Japan (K. Yoshimoto), Division of Applied Life Sciences, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University 606-8502, Japan (Y. Sakai). Fax: +81 0 45 503 9573 (K. Yoshimoto), +81 0 75 753 6454 (Y. Sakai).

Received 27 November 2009; received in revised form 24 December 2009; accepted 6 January 2010. published online 13 January 2010.

Abstract

Plants and plant-associated microorganisms including phytopathogens have to adapt to drastic changes in environmental conditions. Because of their immobility, plants must cope with various types of environmental stresses such as starvation, oxidative stress, drought stress, and invasion by phytopathogens during their differentiation, development, and aging processes. Here we briefly describe the early studies of plant autophagy, summarize recent studies on the molecular functions of ATG genes, and speculate on the role of autophagy in plants and phytopathogens. Autophagy regulates senescence and pathogen-induced cell death in plants, and autophagy and pexophagy play critical roles in differentiation and the invasion of host cells by phytopathogenic fungi.

Keywords: Senescence, Programmed cell death, Phytopathogenicity