The convergence of autophagy, small RNA and the stress response - implications for transgenerational epigenetic inheritance in plants

Recent discoveries in eukaryotes have shown that autophagy-mediated degradation of DICER and ARGONAUTE (AGO), the proteins involved in post-transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS), can occur in response to viral infection and starvation. In plants, a virally encoded protein P0 specifically interacts with AGO1 and enhances degradation through autophagy, resulting in suppression of gene silencing. In HeLa cells, DICER and AGO2 protein levels decreased after nutrient starvation or after treatment to increase autophagy. Environmental exposures to viral infection and starvation have also recently been shown to sometimes not only induce a stress response in the exposed plant but also in their unexposed progeny. These, and other cases of inherited stress response in plants are thought to be facilitated through transgenerational epigenetic inheritance, and the mechanism involves the PTGS and transcriptional gene silencing (TGS) pathways. These recent discoveries suggest that the environmentally-induced autophagic degradation of the PTGS and TGS components may have significant effects on inherited stress responses.