Guiding Principles of Selective Autophagy in Plants

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• Dr Yasin Dagdas, Sainsbury Lab, Norwich
• Wednesday 27 April 2016, 11:00-12:00
• Large Lecture Theatre, Department of Plant Sciences.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact david baulcombe.

Autophagy is a multifaceted membrane trafficking pathway involved in adaptation to cellular stress conditions. Activation of autophagy leads to formation of double membrane vesicles called autophagasomes, which carry autophagic cargo to the vacuole for recycling. Autophagosomes are marked by a ubiquitin like protein called ATG8 . It is now well established that rather than being a bulk degradation process autophagy is highly selective. Selective autophagy is mediated by cargo receptors that interact with ATG8 via a conserved ATG8 Interacting Motif (AIM) and recruit autophagic cargo to the autophagosomes. The molecular basis of autophagic cargo recruitment and biological roles of selective autophagy are poorly understood. Recently, we discovered that a secreted effector of the Irish potato famine pathogen, named PexRD54, binds to the autophagy marker protein ATG8 via an AIM . PexRD54 does not have a negative effect on autophagic flux and stimulates autophagosome formation. To investigate the biological function of PexRD54, we studied the plant autophagy receptor Joka2, which also interacts with ATG8 . Overexpression of Joka2 in planta limited pathogen infection, suggesting a role for Joka2/ATG8 selective autophagy in response to oomycete infection. Remarkably PexRD54 was able to out-compete Joka2 for binding to ATG8 and restore full pathogen virulence. Our findings point to a model in which an effector from the Irish potato famine pathogen antagonizes plant autophagy receptor to enhance pathogen virulence. Using PexRD54 as a molecular probe, we developed a model which may explain the molecular basis of selective autophagy. I will present our recent findings that validate our model and explain how we will exploit this model to dissect the biological roles of selective autophagy in plants.

This talk is part of the Plant Sciences Talks series.

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• Large Lecture Theatre, Department of Plant Sciences

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