Researchers studied how a common plant-damaging fungus called Botrytis cinerea survives high temperatures. They found that two cellular cleanup systems—autophagy (which recycles damaged components) and a mitochondrial protease called Lon1—work together to help the fungus survive heat stress. When either system was disabled, the fungus was much more sensitive to heat and showed increased cell death, suggesting these processes are essential for the fungus’s survival strategy.