01
Receptor discovery
We comb through the diversity of life to find the receptors that decide what a cell recycles — then work out, in detail, exactly how they do it.
Evolutionary Cell Biology · Heidelberg University
How cells clean house across the eukaryotic tree of life.
We study how autophagy — the cell's own recycling system — evolved across life, and how it keeps organisms healthy when things get stressful.
Selective autophagy — an autophagosome engulfing cellular cargo
Why we do this
We want to know how cells keep themselves alive — and how they've managed it for two billion years.
Almost everything we know about cellular quality control comes from a handful of lab organisms. We take a wider view. By sampling the astonishing diversity of the eukaryotic tree of life, we find autophagy pathways no one has seen before — then work out how they actually work, using imaging, biochemistry, and genetics. It's cell biology with an evolutionary heart, and it keeps surprising us.
The pathway
From phagophore to vacuole
Selective autophagy captures damaged or unwanted cargo in a growing double membrane, packages it, and delivers it for recycling — a journey our lab has helped map, including the discovery that plant autophagosomes mature into amphisomes before reaching the vacuole.
← swipe to follow the pathway →
Original illustration, after Zhao et al., J. Cell Biol. 2022.
Research
Four questions we're chasing
Autophagy is the cell's recycling crew: it grabs damaged or unwanted parts and breaks them down so the cell stays healthy and in tune with its surroundings. Here's where we dig in.
02
ER homeostasis & UFMylation
Building on our discovery of the conserved receptor C53 and its regulation by the enigmatic UFMylation pathway, we combine evolutionary cell biology, RNA biochemistry, and omics to illuminate UFMylation's hidden roles.
03
Organelle quality control
How do cells keep each of their organelles healthy? Our discovery that cell-wall damage induces ATG8ylation of the tonoplast — a non-canonical form of autophagy — is one entry point into how quality-control pathways safeguard the vacuole, ER, chloroplasts, mitochondria, and beyond.
04
Cell-type specific autophagy
Using tools we've developed, we investigate how specialized autophagy pathways differ between cell types and coordinate to sustain whole-organism homeostasis under diverse stresses.
Research highlights
Figures from our papers
Selected figures from our open-access (CC BY) publications.
Figure slotfigures/amphisome.jpg
Figure slotfigures/atg8ylation.jpg
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Selected publications
Recent work
A selection of recent papers and preprints. The full, up-to-date list lives on Google Scholar.
2026Preprint · bioRxiv
UFMylation anchors splicing factors at the ER to reprogram nuclear splicing
Zhan N, Papareddy RK, Erte B, Anisimova AS, Perdigao C, Tirard-Thevenoud M, Mihailovic M, Akyol H, Karagöz GE, Brose N, Irwin NA, Dagdas Y. bioRxiv, 30 Mar 2026.
2026Science
Selective autophagy fine-tunes plant immunity to promote cell survival during viral infection
Clavel M, Bianchi A, Kobylinska R, Groh R, Zhang X, Ma J, Papareddy RK, Grujic N, Picchianti L, Stewart E, Schutzbier M, Stejskal K, de la Concepcion JC, Sanchez de Medina Hernandez V, Voichek Y, Clauw P, Gunis J, Durnberger G, Muelders JC, Grimm A, Sedivy A, Erhardt M, Vyboishchikov V, Gao P, Lechner E, Vantard E, Potuschak T, Jez J, Roitinger E, Genschik P, Kang BH, Dagdas Y. Science 2026 May 28;392(6801):eadu9554.
2026Nature Plants
Cell-type-specific autophagy in root-hair-forming cells is essential for salt stress tolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana
Zhao J, Gao P, Xiang S, Löfke C, Yeung KC, Chen Y, Jiang L, Dagdas Y. Nat Plants 2026 May;12(5):1008–1021.
2026Developmental Cell
A lineage-specific selective autophagy receptor module mediates P-body turnover
Abdrakhmanov A, Ethier E, Anisimova AS, Grujic N, Papareddy RK, Clavel M, Karagöz GE, Hallacli E, Dagdas Y. Dev Cell 2026 Apr 8;61(4):744–759.e11.
2026Developmental Cell
Cross-species interactome analysis uncovers a conserved selective autophagy mechanism for protein quality control in plants
Sánchez de Medina Hernández V, Nava-García MM, Bianchi A, Clavel M, Papareddy RK, Benchalel L, Andreev VI, Mathur V, Mohseni A, García-León M, Gao P, de la Concepción JC, Picchianti L, Grujic N, Kobylinska R, Abdrakhmanov A, Duvergé H, Anand G, Leibrock N, Ma J, Raffeiner M, Crawford TS, Argirò L, Matuszkiewicz M, Wun CL, Kanne JV, Meinhart A, Roitinger E, Bäurle I, Kang BH, Petersen M, Üstün S, Kulathu Y, Clausen T, Ramundo S, Dagdas Y. Dev Cell 2026 Mar 11;61(3):655–675.e22.
2025Nature Plants
Electrostatic changes enabled the diversification of an exocyst subunit via protein complex escape
De la Concepcion JC, Duverge H, Kim Y, Julian J, Xu HD, Watt MN, Ikene SA, Bianchi A, Grujic N, Papareddy RK, Grishkovskaya I, Haselbach D, Murray DH, Clavel M, Irwin NAT, Dagdas Y. Nat Plants 2025 Nov;11(11):2350–2367.
2025Nature Plants
ATG8ylation of vacuolar membrane protects plants against cell wall damage
Julian J, Gao P, Del Chiaro A, Carlos De La Concepcion J, Armengot L, Somssich M, Duverge H, Clavel M, Grujic N, Kobylinska R, Polivka I, Besten M, Andersen TG, Dank C, Korbei B, Bachmair A, Coll NS, Minina EA, Sprakel J, Dagdas Y. Nat Plants 2025 Feb;11(2):321–339.
2023EMBO Journal
Shuffled ATG8 interacting motifs form an ancestral bridge between UFMylation and autophagy
Picchianti L, Sánchez de Medina Hernández V, Zhan N, Irwin NA, Groh R, Stephani M, Hornegger H, Beveridge R, Sawa-Makarska J, Lendl T, Grujic N, Naumann C, Martens S, Richards TA, Clausen T, Ramundo S, Karagöz GE, Dagdas Y. EMBO J 2023 May 15;42(10):e112053.
2022J. Cell Biology
Plant autophagosomes mature into amphisomes prior to their delivery to the central vacuole
Zhao J, Bui MT, Ma J, Künzl F, Picchianti L, De La Concepcion JC, Chen Y, Petsangouraki S, Mohseni A, García-Leon M, Gomez MS, Giannini C, Gwennogan D, Kobylinska R, Clavel M, Schellmann S, Jaillais Y, Friml J, Kang BH, Dagdas Y. J Cell Biol 2022 Dec 5;221(12):e202203139.
2020eLife
A cross-kingdom conserved ER-phagy receptor maintains endoplasmic reticulum homeostasis during stress
Stephani M, Picchianti L, Gajic A, Beveridge R, Skarwan E, Sanchez de Medina Hernandez V, Mohseni A, Clavel M, Zeng Y, Naumann C, Matuszkiewicz M, Turco E, Loefke C, Li B, Dürnberger G, Schutzbier M, Chen HT, Abdrakhmanov A, Savova A, Chia KS, Djamei A, Schaffner I, Abel S, Jiang L, Mechtler K, Ikeda F, Martens S, Clausen T, Dagdas Y. eLife 2020 Aug 27;9:e58396.
Highlight
A conserved route to protein quality control
By comparing autophagy interactomes across species, we uncovered CESAR — a selective-autophagy receptor that recognises ubiquitinated protein aggregates and hands them to the ATG8-decorated autophagy machinery. This quality-control route is conserved across the plant lineage, and sits at the heart of our comparative, evolution-first approach.
Figure slotfigures/conserved-autophagy.png
News
From the lab
Research highlights, awards, and milestones from the lab and its people.
25 Jun 2026
Jose Julián Valenzuela wins an FWF-ASTRA Prize for vacuolar quality control
Former Dagdas lab member Jose Julián Valenzuela — first author of our study on ATG8ylation of the vacuolar membrane — has been awarded a prestigious FWF-ASTRA Prize 2026, worth roughly €1 million over five years. Now leading his own group at BOKU University, he will explore how "vacuolar quality control" lets plants cope with alkaline soils, studying model plants and climate-resilient crops such as quinoa to help build more resilient agriculture.
BOKU release ↗ · Julian Lab ↗28 May 2026
A balancing act: how autophagy buys time during viral infection
When viruses attack, autophagy — the cell's cleanup system — helps plant cells survive by striking the balance between defence and growth.
Read more ↗31 Oct 2025
Plant power: electrical forces bring ancient plant proteins back to life
Researchers at the GMI uncovered how proteins in plants can acquire new functions, driven by electrostatic forces.
Read more ↗9 Apr 2025
Juan Carlos De la Concepción receives Biochemical Society's Early Career Research Award
The Biochemical Society recognized his research on how pathogens manipulate host cells.
Read more ↗11 Mar 2025
Angelina Gross joins BOKU as a principal investigator
"Group leaders at the GMI supported my application process to become a group leader," she reflects on her path.
Read more ↗7 Feb 2025
Balancing the pressure: how plant cells protect their vacuoles
Water-filled vacuoles provide the inner pressure plant cells need for structural support — and the lab shows how they're protected after cell wall damage.
Read more ↗20 Dec 2024
Autophagy unveiled: the Dagdas group is shining a light on cellular recycling
Autophagy keeps cells clean from harmful components. The group studies how selective autophagy detects and recycles its targets.
Read more ↗19 Jun 2024
Jose Julián Valenzuela selected as speaker at Plant Biology 2024
The postdoctoral researcher and visiting scientist presented the lab's results at the international conference.
Read more ↗7 Dec 2023
Extended funding for the Special Research Program in Targeted Protein Degradation
The collaborative research program securing continued support for protein degradation science.
Read more ↗3 Apr 2023
Yasin Dagdas elected to the OeAW's Young Academy
The group leader was elected to the Young Academy of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.
Read more ↗10 Feb 2023
Autophagy: the molecular regulation of self-eating
An essential cellular quality-control mechanism that clears the cell of protein aggregates and damaged organelles.
Read more ↗19 Oct 2022
New stop along the cellular journey of recycling organelles in plants
A "hub and spoke" system enables plant cells to efficiently coordinate cellular trafficking and recycling.
Read more ↗17 Aug 2022
GMI's International Internship Program welcomes early career researchers
Interns highlight the importance of minimal hierarchy, human connection, and purpose-driven work.
Read more ↗The people
Meet the team
Cell biologists, biochemists, evolutionary biologists, and bioinformaticians who share a curiosity about how cells keep themselves alive.
figures/team/yasin.jpg
Yasin Dagdas
Group Leader · Principal Investigator
Professor of Evolutionary Cell Biology at Heidelberg University. My lab explores how cells stay healthy when life gets stressful — selective autophagy, proteostasis, and organelle quality control — and how these pathways evolved across organisms. Beyond the science, I care about building a supportive environment where people from different backgrounds can flourish.
📍 Ereğli, Türkiye
Helge Paternoga
Staff Scientist · since 2026
A biologist fascinated by the structure and function of molecular complexes, and how these relate to plant physiology and adaptation.
Ranjith Papareddy
Postdoc · since 2023
An experimental and computational biologist fascinated by the principles of gene expression. After studying nuclear gene regulation in his PhD, he now asks how expression is controlled in the cytosol and organelles — at the epitranscriptomic, translational, and proteostatic levels.
📍 India
Bu Erte
PhD Student · since 2022
Studies the interplay between selective autophagy, organelle maturation, and ribosome-associated quality control.
📍 Inner Mongolia, China
Alessia Del Chiaro
PhD Student · since 2022
Studies the role of autophagy in plant tissue regeneration — testing the idea that autophagy is switched on to drive cellular reprogramming during regeneration.
📍 Italy
Anita Bianchi
PhD Student · since 2025
Grew up among the fields of northern Italy, so plant biology felt almost inevitable. She studies plant autophagy and uses evolutionary approaches to uncover how it emerged and diversified across the plant lineage.
📍 Cagno (Como), Italy
Caja-Marie Kaiser
PhD Student · since 2026
Joined after her studies in molecular and applied plant science at Heidelberg. She's interested in how autophagy helps plants cope with environmental stress, and how it shapes aging and regeneration.
📍 Mannheim, Germany
Fiona Smith
PhD Student · since 2026
A biochemist trained at Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg (BSc & MSc), now studying plant autophagy and cell biology in the lab.
📍 Zwickau, Germany
Laetitia Diehl
Bachelor Student · since 2026
Her thesis maps protein interactions in the Arabidopsis autophagy network, identifying and validating partners of ATG8A through co-immunoprecipitation and computational approaches — to reveal new players in cellular recycling.
📍 Göttingen, Germany
Aisana Bassagarinova
Intern · since 2026
An undergraduate at CUHK studying how plant cells use selective autophagy to remodel their organelles. She's fascinated by the rapid molecular adjustments plants make to stay responsive to their environment, and hopes to translate them toward sustainable agriculture.
📍 Petropavl, Kazakhstan
Boray Yıldırım
Intern · since 2026
Majoring in Molecular Biology and Genetics at METU, Ankara. He works on the translational regulation of cellular remodeling, alongside the lab's UFMylation and ER-stress research.
📍 Eskişehir, Türkiye
Nazlı Korkmaz
Intern · since 2026
A Molecular Biology and Genetics undergraduate at METU. Her internship focuses on selective autophagy mechanisms and their protein-interaction networks, including regulatory pathways such as UFMylation.
📍 İzmir, Türkiye
Alumni
Where they are now
We're actively building this section. If you're a former member of the lab, let us know your current whereabouts and we'll update it.
Lab over the years
Life outside the bench
Retreats, dinners, holiday markets, and the occasional experiment in having fun. Tap any photo to enlarge.
How we work together
Our code of conduct — R.I.P
Three commitments guide everything we do:
Respect. We treat each other, and our science, with care — kindness, inclusion, and honest, constructive feedback.
Integrity. Honest data and honest credit — clear records, fair authorship, and open science by default.
Passion. We stay curious, take smart risks, invest in each other's growth, and keep it human.
Our commitment to your career: when postdocs move on, we encourage them to take their projects with them — because helping people launch independent careers is part of the deal.
Read the full code of conduct (PDF) →
Join us
We're recruiting at all levels
We're particularly keen to add a structural biologist or biochemist to the team. Everyone is welcome here — if our questions excite you, get in touch.
- Postdocs & master's students: email Yasin with a short letter of intent.
- PhD students: apply via the relevant graduate program; we're happy to discuss projects first.
Contact
Get in touch
For collaborations, joining the lab, or media enquiries, reach out by email or visit us in Heidelberg.
Dagdas Lab — Evolutionary Cell Biology
Centre for Organismal Studies (COS)
Heidelberg University
Im Neuenheimer Feld 230
69120 Heidelberg, Germany
Email
yasin.dagdas@cos.uni-heidelberg.de
Centre for Organismal Studies (COS)
Heidelberg University
Im Neuenheimer Feld 230
69120 Heidelberg, Germany
yasin.dagdas@cos.uni-heidelberg.de