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Autophagy, programmed cell death and reactive oxygen species in sexual reproduction in plants

Journal of Plant Research volume 130, pages 491–499 (2017)Cite this article

Abstract

Autophagy is one of the major cellular processes of recycling of proteins, metabolites and intracellular organelles, and plays crucial roles in the regulation of innate immunity, stress responses and programmed cell death (PCD) in many eukaryotes. It is also essential in development and sexual reproduction in many animals. In plants, although autophagy-deficient mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana show phenotypes in abiotic and biotic stress responses, their life cycle seems normal and thus little had been known until recently about the roles of autophagy in development and reproduction. Rice mutants defective in autophagy show sporophytic male sterility and immature pollens, indicating crucial roles of autophagy during pollen maturation. Enzymatic production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) by respiratory burst oxidase homologues (Rbohs) play multiple roles in regulating anther development, pollen tube elongation and fertilization. Significance of autophagy and ROS in the regulation of PCD of transient cells during plant sexual reproduction is discussed in comparison with animals.

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Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Abbreviations

ATGs:

Autophagy-related genes

MO:

Membranous organelle

mtDNA:

Mitochondrial DNA

PCD:

Programmed cell death

ROS:

Reactive oxygen species

Rbohs:

Respiratory burst oxidase homologues

VPE:

Vacuolar processing enzyme

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Shigeru Hanamata and Ms. Tomoko Koyano for technical assistance. This work was supported in part by Grants-in-Aid from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology for Young Scientists (B) (15K21450) to TK, for Innovative Areas (16H01207; 15H01239) to KK, for challenging Exploratory Research (15K14681) to KK, and in part by Asahi Glass Foundation to TK.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Tokyo University of Technology, 1404-1 Katakura, Hachioji, Tokyo, 192-0982, Japan

    Takamitsu Kurusu

  2. Imaging Frontier Center, Tokyo University of Science, 2641 Yamazaki, Noda, Chiba, 278-8510, Japan

    Takamitsu Kurusu & Kazuyuki Kuchitsu

  3. Department of Applied Biological Science, Tokyo University of Science, 2641 Yamazaki, Noda, Chiba, 278-8510, Japan

    Kazuyuki Kuchitsu

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  1. Takamitsu Kurusu
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Correspondence to Kazuyuki Kuchitsu.

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Kurusu, T., Kuchitsu, K. Autophagy, programmed cell death and reactive oxygen species in sexual reproduction in plants. J Plant Res 130, 491–499 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-017-0934-4

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Keywords

  • Autophagy
  • Fertilization
  • Programmed cell death (PCD)
  • Reactive oxygen species (ROS)
  • Sexual reproduction
  • Vacuole