Abstract
Petal senescence is a highly regulated developmental process that is controlled by multiple genes. We examined the regulation of autophagy, which has been thought to be involved in petal senescence in Japanese morning glory. Five of six isolated autophagy-related gene 8 (ATG8) homologs in Japanese morning glory, InATG8a, b, d, e, and f were highly expressed in senescing petal limbs, indicating that multiple members of the InATG8 gene family are involved in the regulation of autophagy during petal senescence. Suppressed InATG8f expression in transgenic plants altered neither autophagic activity nor petal senescence, suggesting that some members of the InATG8 gene family have redundant function in the induction of autophagy in petal senescence. It was confirmed from these findings that autophagy is induced during petal senescence in Japanese morning glory, suggesting that autophagy plays an important role in petal senescence.
