AUTOPHAGY AND FERROPTOSIS IN TMV- INFECTED Nicotiana benthamiana

Abstract

Autophagy is a conserved, highly-regulated catabolic process that plays important role in innate immunity in plants. Regulated cell death is a plant defense response whereby damaged cells are eliminated through specific biochemical pathways. I investigated autophagy and cell death in N. benthamiana plants infected with TMV and mutant TMV 24A+UPD, an artificial mutant that induces more severe symptoms leading to cell death in the plants. Using a BirA* tag and proximity-dependent biotin identification (BioID) analysis, I identified host proteins that interact with the core autophagy protein, ATG8 in TMV infected plants. Furthermore, I aimed at understanding the molecular events that lead to accelerated cell death in plants infected with TMV24A+UPD, in comparison to TMV. I employed the iTRAQ to identify and map the proteomes of TMV and TMV 24A+UPD infected plants at time points that correlate with initiation of early cell death.