Living to Die and Dying to Live: The Survival Strategy behind Leaf Senescence

Abstract

ORCID ID: 0000-0001-7934-126X (J.H.M.S.).Senescence represents the final developmental act of the leaf, during which the leaf cell is dismantled in a coordinated manner to remobilize nutrients and to secure reproductive success. The process of senescence provides the plant with phenotypic plasticity to help it adapt to adverse environmental conditions. Here, we provide a comprehensive overview of the factors and mechanisms that control the onset of senescence. We explain how the competence to senesce is established during leaf development, as depicted by the senescence window model. We also discuss the mechanisms by which phytohormones and environmental stresses control senescence as well as the impact of source-sink relationships on plant yield and stress tolerance. In addition, we discuss the role of senescence as a strategy for stress adaptation and how crop production and food quality could benefit from engineering or breeding crops with altered onset of senescence.

Molecular cloning and characterization of a chlorophyll degradation regulatory gene (ZjSGR) from Zoysia japonica

“…Interestingly, ZjSGR was strongly suppressed by SA in our study. Since SA has recently been reported to play a dual role in promoting senescence and cell death (Schippers et al, 2015), further studies are required to investigate the mechanism. This is the first study of differential expression of the ZjSGR gene in different tissues and induced by hormone treatments.…”

“…The identification of senescence-associated genes (SAGs) paved the way for elucidating leaf senescence at the transcriptional level (Schippers et al, 2015). SAG113 was found to be up-regulated during the leaf senescence process (Zhang et al, 2012).…”

Effect of CO2enrichment and increased nitrogen supply on the induction of sunflower (Helianthus annuusL.) primary leaf senescence

“…Protein degradation occurs through the action of proteases and via the ubiquitin-proteasome system. At least a portion of senescence-associated proteases localizes to senescence-associated vacuoles to degrade chloroplast-derived proteins (Carrion et al 2013;Schippers et al 2015). Aoyama et al (2014) report that under conditions of elevated CO 2 and sufficient nitrogen, Arabidopsis plants produced greater amounts of organic compounds such as proteins for plant growth.…”

“…Under optimal growth conditions, the onset of leaf senescence occurs in an age-dependent manner (Schippers et al 2015). During its lifetime, a plant is exposed to various environmental conditions that can prematurely induce the senescence program.…”

Hormone Content and Abscisic Acid Localization in Leaves of Different Age of Sugar Beet

“…способность обеспечивать органы-акцепторы продуктами усвоения углерода. Донорная функция листьев усиливается по мере их старения, при котором происходит распад и ремобилизация как полисахаридов, так и белков [Schippers et al, 2015;Romanova et al, 2016]. Процесс старения знаменуется деструкцией хлоропластов, а поскольку эти органоиды содержат большую часть белков листа, их распад являются богатым источников азота для его реутилизации [Girondé et al, 2015].…”