The N-degron pathway governs autophagy to promote thermotolerance in Arabidopsis.

ABSTRACT: Autophagy is a vital process that enables plants to adapt to various environmental changes. During heat stress (HS), misfolded and denatured proteins accumulate in cells, necessitating autophagy for their removal. Here, we show that a core autophagy component ATG8a is targeted for degradation via the Arg/N-degron pathway. ATG8a is expressed as two alternatively spliced transcripts encoding ATG8a isoforms, namely ATG8a(S) and ATG8a(L), with distinct N-termini. While ATG8a(S) remains stable, ATG8a(L) is N-terminally processed to expose the Arg/N-degron, leading to its degradation. Ubiquitin protein ligase E3 component N-recognin 7 (UBR7), identified as an N-recognin, is responsible for ubiquitination and proteasomal degradation of ATG8a(L). Notably, ATG8a(S) and ATG8a(L) show dynamic express

SUBMITTER: Kim SH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12218376 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature