The UK plans to be carbon neutral by 2050, but it gave more than £4.5bn in aid money to fossil fuel projects overseas between 2010 and 2017

The UK plans to be carbon neutral by 2050, but it gave more than £4.5bn in aid money to fossil fuel projects overseas between 2010 and 2017

The UK plans to be carbon neutral by 2050, but it gave more than £4.5bn in aid money to fossil fuel projects overseas between 2010 and 2017

by Erin K. Zess, Cassandra Jensen, Neftaly Cruz-Mireles, Juan Carlos De la Concepcion, Jan Sklenar, Madlen Stephani, Richard Imre, Elisabeth Roitinger, Richard Hughes, Khaoula Belhaj, Karl Mechtler, Frank L. H. Menke, Tolga Bozkurt, Mark J. Banfield, Sophien Kamoun, Abbas Maqbool, Yasin F. Dagdas

Autophagy-related protein 8 (ATG8) is a highly conserved ubiquitin-like protein that modulates autophagy pathways by binding autophagic membranes and a number of proteins, including cargo receptors and core autophagy components. Throughout plant evolution, ATG8 has expanded from a single protein in algae to multiple isoforms in higher plants. However, the degree to which ATG8 isoforms have functionally specialized to bind distinct proteins remains unclear. Here, we describe a comprehensive protein–protein interaction resource, obtained using in planta immunoprecipitation (IP) followed by mass spectrometry (MS), to define the potato ATG8 interactome. We discovered that ATG8 isoforms bind distinct sets of plant proteins with varying degrees of overlap. This prompted us to define the biochemical basis of ATG8 specialization by comparing two potato ATG8 isoforms using both in vivo protein interaction assays and in vitro quantitative binding affinity analyses. These experiments revealed that the N-terminal β-strand—and, in particular, a single amino acid polymorphism—underpins binding specificity to the substrate PexRD54 by shaping the hydrophobic pocket that accommodates this protein’s ATG8-interacting motif (AIM). Additional proteomics experiments indicated that the N-terminal β-strand shapes the broader ATG8 interactor profiles, defining interaction specificity with about 80 plant proteins. Our findings are consistent with the view that ATG8 isoforms comprise a layer of specificity in the regulation of selective autophagy pathways in plants.

Microscopic jelly blobs that form when simple carbon-based chemicals dry out could have been the precursors to the first biological cells on Earth

Microscopic jelly blobs that form when simple carbon-based chemicals dry out could have been the precursors to the first biological cells on Earth

Microscopic jelly blobs that form when simple carbon-based chemicals dry out could have been the precursors to the first biological cells on Earth

Our ancestors may have learned to control fire 1.5 million years ago, which could explain how we came to be human

Our ancestors may have learned to control fire 1.5 million years ago, which could explain how we came to be human

Our ancestors may have learned to control fire 1.5 million years ago, which could explain how we came to be human

More than 3700 square kilometres of Brazilian rainforest has been cleared since Jair Bolsonaro became president, but he has dismissed the data as "lies"

More than 3700 square kilometres of Brazilian rainforest has been cleared since Jair Bolsonaro became president, but he has dismissed the data as "lies"

More than 3700 square kilometres of Brazilian rainforest has been cleared since Jair Bolsonaro became president, but he has dismissed the data as "lies"

Groundwater provides drinking water for 120 million Americans and irrigates farmland - but demand in some places, including in California, is drying up wells

Groundwater provides drinking water for 120 million Americans and irrigates farmland - but demand in some places, including in California, is drying up wells

Groundwater provides drinking water for 120 million Americans and irrigates farmland - but demand in some places, including in California, is drying up wells

We’ve identified the original stars that were in the Milky Way before it devoured another smaller galaxy called Gaia-Enceladus about 10 billion years ago

We’ve identified the original stars that were in the Milky Way before it devoured another smaller galaxy called Gaia-Enceladus about 10 billion years ago

We’ve identified the original stars that were in the Milky Way before it devoured another smaller galaxy called Gaia-Enceladus about 10 billion years ago

Some stars that go supernova are dimmer than we expect, so something must be filching their energy - it may be a possible dark matter particle called the axion