Figure 8.

Effects of ATG4 and ATG7 on spermidine (Spd)-induced the formation of autophagosomes. (A) MDC-labeled puncta in the roots of pV190, pV190-ATG4, and pV190-ATG7 plants. Cucumber plants were exposed to 75 mM NaCl stress with or without 1 mM Spd, and the roots were MDC-stained and visualized at 24 h by fluorescence confocal microscopy. MDC-labeled structures are shown as green signals. Bars: 20 μm. (B) The number of MDC-labeled puncta per 10,000 μm² in (A). (C) ATG8 protein levels in the roots of pV190, pV190-ATG4, and pV190-ATG7 plants. ATG8–PE and ATG8 are the lipidated and nonlipidated forms of ATG8, respectively. ACT12 was used as a loading control for the immunoblotting analysis. (D) Relative ATG8–PE levels in (C). Means with the same letter did not significantly differ at P < 0.05, according to Tukey’s test. Three independent experiments were performed with similar results