Living to Die and Dying to Live: The Survival Strategy behind Leaf Senescence.
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.
Institute of Biology I, Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany (J.H.M.S., R.S.);Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences, University of Reading, Whiteknights Campus, Reading, Berkshire RG6 6AP, United Kingdom (C.W.); andKey Laboratory of Plant Resources, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China (H.-C.J.) schippers@bio1.rwth-aachen.de hcjing@ibcas.ac.cn.
Jos H M
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7934-126X
JH
Schippers
Institute of Biology I, Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany (J.H.M.S., R.S.);Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences, University of Reading, Whiteknights Campus, Reading, Berkshire RG6 6AP, United Kingdom (C.W.); andKey Laboratory of Plant Resources, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China (H.-C.J.).
Romy
R
Schmidt
Institute of Biology I, Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany (J.H.M.S., R.S.);Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences, University of Reading, Whiteknights Campus, Reading, Berkshire RG6 6AP, United Kingdom (C.W.); andKey Laboratory of Plant Resources, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China (H.-C.J.).
Carol
C
Wagstaff
Institute of Biology I, Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany (J.H.M.S., R.S.);Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences, University of Reading, Whiteknights Campus, Reading, Berkshire RG6 6AP, United Kingdom (C.W.); andKey Laboratory of Plant Resources, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China (H.-C.J.) schippers@bio1.rwth-aachen.de hcjing@ibcas.ac.cn.
Hai-Chun
HC
Jing
D000220:Adaptation, Biological; D000069599:Crop Production / Q000379:methods; D063427:Food Quality; D000069600:Plant Breeding / Q000379:methods; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000502:physiology*