Autophagy

Last changed: 18 November 2021

Autophagy (“self-eating”) is a major catabolic process in eukaryotes that involves the sequestration of cytoplasmic contents into double membraned vesicles known as autophagosomes, which are then transported to the lytic vacuole for degradation so that they can be repurposed. Autophagy acts as an intracellular recycling system, playing critical roles in plant development and defence against various forms of environmental stress. Through the implementation of innovative strategies and development of new technologies to study autophagy, we aim to further unravel the underlying mechanisms controlling this vital process with agricultural significance.

This research is supported by the Carl Trygger Foundation, Formas, and C4F.

Autophagy illustration

Ongoing collaborations

Stina Berglund-Fick (Umeå University / Chemical Biology Consortium of Sweden)

Kim Boutilier (WUR - Wageningen University & Research)

Erik Chorell (Chemical Biology Consortium of Sweden)

Kris Gevaert (VIB – Ghent University)

Glenn Hicks (University of California, Riverside)

Weixing Qian (Chemical Biology Consortium of Sweden)

Selected publications

Elander PH, Holla S, Sabljić I, Gutierrez-Beltran E, Willems P, Bozhkov PV, Minina EA. Interactome of Arabidopsis ATG5 Suggests Functions beyond Autophagy. 2023. Int J Mol Sci. 12300.

Leong JX, Raffeiner M, Spinti D, Langin G, Franz-Wachtel M, Guzman AR, Kim JG, Pandey P, Minina AE, Macek B, Hafrén A, Bozkurt TO, Mudgett MB, Börnke F, Hofius D, Üstün S. 2022. A bacterial effector counteracts host autophagy by promoting degradation of an autophagy component. EMBO J. e110352.

Dauphinee AN, Ohlsson JA, Minina EA (2020) Tandem Tag Assay Optimized for Semi-automated in vivo Autophagic Activity Measurement in Arabidopsis thaliana roots. Bio Protoc 10(5):e3535

AN Dauphinee, C Cardoso, K Dalman, JA Ohlsson, S Berglund  Fick, S Robert, GR Hicks, PV Bozhkov, EA Minina (2019) Chemical screening pipeline for identification of specific plant autophagy modulators. Plant Physiol. 2019 Nov;181(3):855-866.

Rodriguez-Furlan C, Minina EA, Hicks GR (2019) Remove, Recycle, Degrade: Regulating Plasma Membrane Protein Accumulation. Plant Cell 31, 2833-2854.

Elander PH, Minina EA, and Bozhkov PV (2018) Autophagy in turnover of lipid stores: trans-kingdom comparison. J Exp Bot 69, 1301-1311. 

Minina EA, Moschou PN, Vetukuri RR, Sanchez-Vera V, Cardoso C, Liu Q, Elander PH, Dalman K, Beganovic M, Yilmaz JL, Marmon S, Shabala L, Suarez MF, Ljung K, Novák O, Shabala S, Stymne S, Hofius D and Bozhkov PV (2018) Transcriptional stimulation of rate-limiting components of the autophagic pathway improves plant fitness. J Exp Bot 69, 1415-1432.

Üstün S, Hafrén A, Liu Q, Marshall RS, Minina EA, Bozhkov PV, Vierstra RD, Hofius D (2018) Bacteria exploit autophagy for proteasome degradation and enhanced virulence in plants. Plant Cell 30, 668-685

Minina EA, Bozhkov PV and Hofius D (2014) Autophagy as initiator or executioner of cell death. Trends in Plant Science 19: 692-697.

Minina EA, Sanchez-Vera V, Moschou PN, Suarez MF, Sundberg E, Weih M and Bozhkov PV (2013) Autophagy mediates caloric restriction-induced lifespan extension in Arabidopsis. Aging Cell 12: 327-329