Autophagy-phytohormone crosstalk: a dual-regulation axis in plant development

Autophagy, a conserved catabolic process that degrades and recycles intracellular components, plays a pivotal role in maintaining plant growth, development, and stress tolerance. Emerging evidence indicates that autophagy is tightly interconnected with phytohormone signaling networks, which coordinate plant physiological processes through transcriptional and metabolic regulation. Recent studies have revealed a bidirectional regulatory relationship between these systems. Autophagy modulates phytohormone pathways by selectively degrading key signaling components, such as repressors in jasmonic acid signaling and regulators of abscisic acid responses, thereby fine-tuning hormonal outputs. Conversely, phytohormones including abscisic acid, ethylene, and salicylic acid can directly influence autophagy activity by controlling the expression of autophagy-related genes and thus the formation of autophagosomes. This dynamic crosstalk enables plants to integrate developmental programs with environmental cues. Here, we systematically summarize the most comprehensive and latest advances in our understanding of how autophagy and phytohormones coordinately regulate plant physiological processes. We also propose unresolved questions and future research directions to advance our knowledge of this essential regulatory network.