Maize seed proteome of autophagy deficient plants throughout development

Autophagy or ‘self-eating’ is a conserved and essential route for recycling intracellular constituents in eukaryotes. For plants, autophagy supports robust crop performance by regulating traits such as nitrogen-use efficiency, carbon allocation, reproduction, grain fill, and protection against various environmental stresses. To define the autophagic mechanisms underlining nutrient partitioning, which are used to sustain plant fitness during rapid growth of sink tissues, we applied a comprehensive multi-omic approach using maize (Zea mays) mutants lacking the core autophagy component ATG12. A sink tissue of particular interest are seeds, which require massive investments of fixed carbon for development. The transcriptome, proteome, metabolome, and ionome of developing seeds from atg12 mutants at 8 and 18 days after pollination (DAP) were analyzed. Developing atg12 seeds exhibited pronounce transcriptional reprogramming at 8 DAP, which may contribute to the observed hyperaccumulation of proteins, metabolites, and ions at 18 DAP. Collectively, this multi-omic approach should provide new perspectives into the adaptive role(s) of autophagy in coordinating nutrient allocation.