New Insight into the Mechanism and Function of Autophagy in Plant Cells

Autophagy is a degradation pathway that is conserved throughout eukaryotic organisms and plays important roles in the tolerance of abiotic and biotic stresses. It functions as a housekeeping process to remove unwanted cell components under normal conditions, and is induced during stress and senescence to break down damaged cellular contents and to recycle materials. The target components are engulfed into specialized transport structures termed autophagosomes and are subsequently delivered to the vacuole for degradation. Here, we review milestones in the study of autophagy in plants, discuss recent advances in our understanding of the mechanism and physiological roles of plant autophagy, and highlight potential future directions of research.