Singlet oxygen-dependent chloroplast degradation is independent of macroautophagy in the Arabidopsis ferrochelatase two mutant

BackgroundChloroplasts respond to stress and changes in the environment by producing reactive oxygen species (ROS) that have specific signaling abilities. The ROS singlet oxygen (1O2) is unique in that it can signal to initiate selective degradation of damaged chloroplasts and then cell death. This chloroplast quality control pathway can be monitored in the Arabidopsis mutant plastid ferrochelatase two (fc2) that conditionally accumulates chloroplast 1O2 under diurnal light cycling conditions leading to rapid chloroplast degradation and eventual cell death. The cellular machinery involved in such degradation, however, remains unknown. Recently it has been demonstrated that whole damaged chloroplasts can be transported to the central vacuole via a process requiring autophagosomes and core components of the autophagy machinery. The relationship between this process, referred to as chlorophagy, and the degradation of 1O2-stressed chloroplasts and cells has remained unexplored. ResultsTo further understand 1O2-induced cellular degradation and determine what role autophagy may play, the expression of autophagy-related genes were monitored in 1O2-stressed fc2 seedlings and found to be induced. Although autophagosomes were present in fc2 cells, they did not associate with chloroplasts during 1O2 stress. Mutations blocking the core autophagy machinery (atg5, atg7, and atg10) were unable to suppress 1O2-induced chloroplast degradation or cell death in the fc2 mutant, suggesting autophagosome formation and macroautophagy are dispensable for 1O2-mediated cellular degradation. However, both atg5 and atg7 led to specific defects in chloroplast ultrastructure and photosynthetic efficiencies, suggesting macroautophagy may be involved in protecting chloroplasts from photo-oxidative damage. Finally, genes predicted to be involved in microautophagy were shown to be induced in stressed fc2 seedlings, indicating a possible role for an alternate form of autophagy in the dismantling of 1O2-damaged chloroplasts. ConclusionsOur results support the hypothesis that 1O2-dependent chloroplast degradation is independent from autophagosome formation, canonical macroautophagy, and chlorophagy. Instead, ATG-independent microautophagy may be involved in such degradation. However, canonical macroautophagy may still play a role in protecting chloroplasts from 1O2-induced photo-oxidative stress. Together, this suggests chloroplast function and degradation is a complex process that utilizes multiple autophagy and degradation machineries, possibly depending on the type of stress or damage incurred.