Research led by the Dagdas lab at the GMI of the Austrian Academy of Sciences - Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften (ÖAW) has identified a selective autophagy receptor in liverwort Marchantia polymorpha involved in degrading membraneless organelles.
Remarkably, this protein – named MpEDC4 – discovered by Yasin Dagdas and PhD student Alibek Abdrakhmanov does more than help plants recycle unneeded cell components; it also breaks down alpha-synuclein, a neurodegenerative protein involved in Parkinson’s disease. While the human version of this protein binds alpha-synuclein but cannot degrade it, the plant version successfully sends it for degradation.
In collaboration with Erinc Hallacli and Elif Karagöz from the Max Perutz Labs Vienna, the researchers demonstrate how this protein degradation process in plants could pave the way for new therapeutic solutions. The study is now published in Developmental Cell.
Original Publication
A lineage-specific selective autophagy receptor module mediates P-body turnover, Alibek Abdrakhmanov, Elizabeth Ethier, Aleksandra S. Anisimova, Nenad Grujic, Ranjith K. Papareddy, Marion Clavel, G. Elif Karagöz, Erinc Hallacli, Yasin Dagdas, Developmental Cell, 2026. DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2026.01.017