Autophagy in the arms race: how pathogen effectors rewire immunity in plants

Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved recycling process that underpins cellular homeostasis and stress resilience in eukaryotes. In the context of plant-pathogen interactions, autophagy has emerged as a key regulatory hub linking immunity, metabolism and programmed cell death. Recent discoveries reveal that diverse virulence factors, or effectors, from a wide range of pathogens target the host autophagy machinery to manipulate cellular responses for their own benefit. On the one hand, selective autophagy functions as a critical component of plant immunity by directly eliminating intracellular pathogens and pathogen-derived molecules, while also degrading negative regulators of immune pathways, thereby strengthening host defences. On the other hand, many pathogens subvert autophagic processes through their effector arsenal: some suppress autophagic degradation to evade immune clearance or maintain host cell viability, whereas others hijack autophagic membranes and signalling components to promote replication and nutrient acquisition. Together, these findings establish autophagy as a central battleground in the molecular arms race between plants and their pathogens. Understanding how effector-autophagy interfaces shape infection outcomes will be critical for engineering disease resistance and for redefining the multifaceted roles of autophagy in plant immunity.