Autophagy modulates apical growth and development in the moss Physcomitrium patens

ABSTRACT Different to root hairs and pollen tubes, Physcomitrium patens apical growing protonemal cells have the singularity that they continue to undergo cell divisions as the plant develops, allowing to study autophagy in the context of a multicellular apical growing tissue coupled to development. Herein, we showed that the core autophagy machinery is present in the moss P. patens , and deeply characterized the growth and development of wild-type, atg5 and atg7 loss-of-function mutants under optimal and nutrient-deprived conditions. Our results showed that the growth of the different morphological and functional protonemata apical growing cells, chloronema and caulonema, is differentially modulated by this process. These differences depend on the protonema cell type and position along the protonemal filament, and growth condition. As a global plant response, the absence of autophagy triggers the spread of the colony through protonemata growth at the expense of a reduction in buds and gametophore development, and thus the adult gametophytic and reproductive phases. Altogether this study provides valuable information indicating that autophagy has roles during apical growth with differential responses within the cell types of the same tissue and contributes to life cycle progression and thus the development of the 2D and 3D tissues of P. patens . HIGHLIGHT Autophagy is differentially induced in protonemal cells, and contributes to apical growth, life cycle progression, and thus the development of the 2D and 3D tissues of P. patens .