Chinese Bulletin of Botany ›› 2021, Vol. 56 ›› Issue (2): 201-217.DOI: 10.11983/CBB20159

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Function and Transcriptional Regulation of Autophagy-related Genes in Plants

Xibao Li, Minyi Lai, Shan Liang, Xiaojing Wang, Caiji Gao, Chao Yang()   

  1. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Biotechnology for Plant Development, School of Life Sciences, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China
  • Received:2020-09-29 Accepted:2020-12-25 Online:2021-03-01 Published:2021-03-17
  • Contact: Chao Yang
  • About author:First author contact:† These authors contributed equally to this paper

Abstract: Macroautophagy (hereafter termed autophagy) is an evolutionarily conserved cellular degradation and recyc- ling pathway in eukaryotes. In this pathway, cellular substances, such as dysfunctional proteins and damaged organelles, are sequestered by a double-membrane structure, autophagosome, and eventually delivered to the lysosomes or vacuoles for degradation and recycling. Autophagy plays essential roles in plant growth and development, as well as in response to environmental stresses. Up to now, more than 40 autophagy-related (ATG) genes have been identified in model plants such as Arabidopsis thaliana and Oryza sativa. It is well established that a large number of ATG genes are up-regulated during specific developmental stages such as leaf senescence and seed maturation, as well as when plants encounter adverse environmental conditions, for example, nutrient starvation, drought or pathogens infection and so on. However, the transcriptional activation or repression mechanisms of ATG genes during these biological processes are largely unknown and need further study. In this review, we summarized the roles and the well-established transcriptional regulation network of ATG genes during plant growth, development and stress responses.

Key words: plant autophagy, ATG gene, transcriptional regulation, stress response, growth and development