Autophagy is induced during plant grafting to promote wound healing

Ken-ichi Kurotani, Daiki Shinozaki, Kentaro Okada, Ryo Tabata, Yaichi Kawakatsu, Ryohei Sugita, Yuki Utsugi, Koji Okayasu, Moe Mori, Keitaro Tanoi, Yumi Goto, Mayuko Sato, Kiminori Toyooka, Kohki Yoshimoto () and Michitaka Notaguchi ()
Additional contact information
Ken-ichi Kurotani: Nagoya University
Daiki Shinozaki: Meiji University
Kentaro Okada: Nagoya University
Ryo Tabata: Nagoya University
Yaichi Kawakatsu: Nagoya University
Ryohei Sugita: The University of Tokyo
Yuki Utsugi: Meiji University
Koji Okayasu: Nagoya University
Moe Mori: Nagoya University
Keitaro Tanoi: The University of Tokyo
Yumi Goto: RIKEN
Mayuko Sato: RIKEN
Kiminori Toyooka: RIKEN
Kohki Yoshimoto: Meiji University
Michitaka Notaguchi: Nagoya University

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-14

Abstract: Abstract Grafting is an agricultural technique that joins tissues from different plants to obtain useful rootstock traits. However, cellular processes involved in joint tissue repair remain poorly understood. We analyzed Nicotiana benthamiana (Nb) and Arabidopsis thaliana (At) interfamily heterografting as a high-stress model and At homografting as a low-stress model. Transmission electron micrographs reveal the formation of autophagic structures in cells near the graft boundary over a long period in Nb/At interfamily grafts and in a short period of a few days in At homografts. Using a GFP-ATG8 marker line, the autophagosomes were observed in the cells near the graft boundary, especially on the scion side, where nutrient depletion occurred. Grafting of At autophagy-defective mutants decreases grafting success rates and post-grafting growth. NbATG5 knockdown suppresses graft establishment in Nb/At interfamily heterografts. Moreover, At autophagy-defective mutants show reduced callus formation directed to wounds under the nutrient-deficient conditions. These results suggest that autophagy is induced during grafting, promoting callus formation and contributing to tissue connectivity.

Date: 2025
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-58519-6 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-58519-6

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-58519-6

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().