Autophagy in the control of programmed cell death.
Programmed cell death (PCD) is essential for plant development and immunity. Localized PCD is associated with the hypersensitive response (HR), which is a constituent of a successful plant innate immune response. Plants have developed mechanisms to meticulously prevent HR-PCD lesions from spreading. Our understanding of these mechanisms is still in its incipient stages. A recent study demonstrated that autophagy, a universally conserved process of macromolecule turnover, plays a pivotal role in controlling HR-PCD. The molecular identity of the mediators between the PCD and HR pathways is still obscure, but recent work has begun to shed light on the relationship between HR-PCD and autophagy and to suggest possible mechanisms for the regulation of these pathways.
Patel
Shalaka
S
Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8103, USA.
Caplan
Jeffrey
J
Dinesh-Kumar
S P
SP
D017209:Apoptosis / Q000502:physiology*; D001343:Autophagy / Q000502:physiology*; D059828:Plant Cells