Advances in the Plant Autophagy
A special issue of Cells (ISSN 2073-4409). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant, Algae and Fungi Cell Biology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (29 February 2020) | Viewed by 51820
Special Issue Editors
Interests: selective autophagy in plants; Arabidopsis; sulfur starvation; autophagy cargo receptors; NBR1; protein interaction; gene expression regulation; cysteine; abscisic acid
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Autophagy is defined as a catabolic process participating in the degradation of intracellular components. It is a highly conserved eukaryotic process involving numerous autophagy-related (ATG) proteins and protein complexes responsible for the initiation and formation of the double-membrane vesicle (autophagosome) and its intracellular transport and fusion with the vacuolar membrane, where its cargo is degraded. The autophagy process and its regulation are relatively well characterized in animals but its details in plants are less known. Autophagy is implicated in almost every aspect of plant growth and development, from embryogenesis to leaf senescence. Plant mutants defective in the autophagy process are hypersensitive to carbon and nitrogen starvation and display early senescence even under nutrient-rich conditions. Autophagy contributes to nutrients remobilization not only during nutrient starvation but also during organ senescence and is involved in nitrogen remobilization from the senescing leaves to the seeds. It promotes plant survival under nutrients deficiency and supports plant tolerance to a plethora of stresses. It is also implicated in plant defence against pathogens. Autophagy must be well controlled to avoid excessive degradation of the cellular content. At the stage of initiation, it is negativelly controlled by the Target of Rapamycin (TOR) kinase. One could expect that the autophagy activity (or autophagy flux) is regulated by posttranslational protein modifications, but also other levels of control are possible. For example, transciption factors regulating the expression of ATG genes in Arabidopais thaliana were recently identified. Moreover, autophagy does not simply entail the bulk degradation of the cellular content but it can be highly selective. Cargo selectivity in autophagy is ensured by the involvement of proteins called selective autophagy cargo receptors, which specifically recognize the cellular elements marked for degradation.
This Special Issue of Cells will help us to improve the general knowledge about the autophagy process in plants. Both experimental papers revealing various aspects of autophagy in plants and algae and review articles are welcome.
Prof. Agnieszka Sirko
Prof. Celine Masclaux-Daubresse
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Cells is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- autophagy flux
- nutrients recycling
- autophagy cargo receptors
- selective autophagy
- crosstalk of autophagy with phytohormons
- autophagy initiation
- ATG
- autophagosome
- autophagy in plant stress
- autophagy in plant development
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.