Selective autophagy fine-tunes plant immunity to promote cell survival during viral infection

Science 2026 Open access

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Authors: Marion Clavel, A.T.J. Bianchi, Roksolana Kobylinska, Roan Groh, X Zhang, Juncai Ma, Ranjith K. Papareddy, Nenad Grujic, Lorenzo Picchianti, Ethan Stewart, Michael Schutzbier, Karel Stejskal
+20 more Juan Carlos De la Concepción, Víctor Sánchez de Medina Hernández, Yoav Voichek, Pieter Clauw, Joanna Gunis, Gerhard Dürnberger, Jens Christian Muelders, Annett Grimm, Arthur Sedivy, Mathieu Erhardt, Victoria Vyboishchikov, Peng Gao, Esther Lechner, Émilie Vantard, Thomas Potuschak, Jakub Jeż, Elisabeth Roitinger, Pascal Genschik, Byung-Ho Kang, Yasin Dagdas
DOI: 10.1126/science.adu9554
Cited by: 5
References: 132

Abstract

RNA viruses co-opt host endomembranes to form replication complexes, often triggering cellular stress and immune responses. Here, we show that Arabidopsis thaliana activates selective autophagy to respond to viruses targeting mitochondria, chloroplasts, and the endoplasmic reticulum. Rather than degrading viral components, autophagy selectively removes the immune regulator Enhanced Disease Susceptibility 1 (EDS1) to prevent cell death. This targeted mechanism is mediated by oligomeric metabolic enzymes that moonlight as selective autophagy receptors, linking organelle stress to immune homeostasis. Our findings establish selective autophagy as an essential immune rheostat that fine-tunes defense responses and safeguards cellular integrity to promote host survival during viral infections.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Autophagy in Disease and Therapy Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress and Disease Plant-Microbe Interactions and Immunity

Publication details

Journal / source
Science
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Volume
392
Issue
6801
Pages
eadu9554–eadu9554
Publication date
28 May 2026
Language
EN