Regulated Autophagy for Sustainability

A research team from the School of Life Sciences led by Professor Zhuang Xiaohong, (left), Professor Wong Kam-bo and Professor Jiang Liwen has discovered a regulatory mechanism in the autophagy of a plant named Arabidopsis thaliana, which may help make agriculture more sustainable by improving nutrient and energy efficiency in crops.

Autophagy is a process by which a eukaryote cell like a plant cell removes, degrades and recycles its proteins and organelles when they are damaged or when the nutrient supply is limited. In this study, the team studied a regulator in the process known as ATG8 and identified a mechanism by which the cell can efficiently decide which components to recycle to meet its nutritional and energy needs. This discovery, said Prof. Zhuang, points to how autophagy may be used to make plants more resilient to stress like nutrient deficiency and droughts, thereby improving crop productivity.

The results have been published in Autophagy, a top journal in the field.