The Role of Autophagy in the Germination of Arabidopsis thaliana Seeds

Autophagy plays an important role in plant growth and development, but the relationship between autophagy and seed germination is not clear. Gene expression analysis, western blotting assay and seed germination rate assay were performed to explore the effect of autophagy on the germination of Arabidopsis thaliana seeds. The main experimental results are as follows. The expression of autophagy genes was significantly up-regulated and ATG8 proteins were gradually accumulated during seed germination, indicating that autophagy was activated in the process. Autophagy inhibitor 3-methyladenine (3-MA) could significantly inhibit seed germination of wild-type Arabidopsis thaliana, and in the normal condition, autophagy mutants had a slower seed germination rate than wild-type Arabidopsis thaliana, indicating that the autophagy pathway was involved in seed germination but not indispensable.