Degrade or die: a dual function for autophagy in the plant immune response.
Localized programmed cell death (PCD) is part of a widespread defense mechanism in plants. A recent paper in Cell () shows that autophagy, a process in which cytoplasm and sometimes organelles are engulfed by double membrane vesicles and degraded, is essential for preventing uncontrolled local and systemic PCD during infection and for limiting viral replication.
Greenberg
Jean T
JT
The Department of Developmental Genetics and Cell Biology, The University of Chicago, 1103 East 57th Street, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA.
D017209:Apoptosis / Q000502:physiology*; D001343:Autophagy / Q000502:physiology*; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / Q000502:physiology; D010944:Plants; D015398:Signal Transduction