AUTHOR=Liu Wanqing , Liu Zinan , Mo Zulong , Guo Shaoying , Liu Yunfeng , Xie Qingjun 

TITLE=ATG8-Interacting Motif: Evolution and Function in Selective Autophagy of Targeting Biological Processes

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2021.783881

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2021.783881

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<p>Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved vacuolar process functioning in the degradation of cellular components for reuse. In plants, autophagy is generally activated upon stress and its regulation is executed by numbers of <italic>AuTophaGy-related genes</italic> (<italic>ATGs</italic>), of which the ATG8 plays a dual role in both biogenesis of autophagosomes and recruitment of ATG8-interacting motif (AIM) anchored selective autophagy receptors (SARs). Such motif is either termed as AIM or ubiquitin-interacting motif (UIM), corresponding to the LC3-interacting region (LIR)/AIM docking site (LDS) or the UIM docking site (UDS) of ATG8, respectively. To date, dozens of AIM or UIM containing SARs have been characterized. However, the knowledge of these motifs is still obscured. In this review, we intend to summarize the current understanding of SAR proteins and discuss the conservation and diversification of the AIMs/UIMs, expectantly providing new insights into the evolution of them in various biological processes in plants.</p>