Fig. 7: Reduced autophagic activity causes delayed petal abscission.

a ATG gene expression in WT, snac and dad1 petals from position +3 flowers (n = 3 independent experiments). The heatmap shows the Log₁₀(ppm) genes based on transcriptome data in the mutants relative to the WT. The boxplots above the heatmap show the distribution of expression changes relative to the WT. Boxes encompass the inter-quartiles (25th–75th percentiles), horizontal lines are means, and range bars show the maximum and minimum values excluding outliers. Asterisks indicate statistically significant differences between the WT and mutants based on FDR. The colored bars to the right of the heatmap show expression levels in the WT. b IGV browser view of ANAC102 ChIP and input signals at ATG8a, ATG9, ATG8i, ATG18h, ATG8g and ATG1b loci. Purple horizontal bars indicate a statistically significant difference between ChIP and input signals. The gene models are shown as black bars (coding regions) and lines (non-coding regions) at the bottom of each panel. c Heatmap showing the absolute expression values of eight ATG genes based on public transcriptome data. d GUS reporter staining pattern for the ATG8a promoter in WT (left) or snac mutant (right) during petal abscission. Scale bar = 1 mm. e Zoomed-in views of GUS staining for the ATG8a promoter in the WT (top) and the snac mutant (bottom) during petal abscission. Scale bar = 100 µm. f Side view of WT and atg8a-1 inflorescences. Open flowers with petals are indicated by asterisks. Scale bar = 1 cm. g Quantification of the timing of abscission, shown as individual data points (left) and violin plots (right) for each genotype. Black dots and vertical lines indicate mean and SD, respectively. n = 10. One-tailed Student’s t test, *p = 0.01. h DAB staining of WT and atg8a-1 petals from position +3 flowers. Scale bars = 100 µm. i Trypan blue staining of WT and atg8a-1 petals of position +3 flowers. Scale bar = 100 µm.