Abstract
This review synthesizes knowledge on dark-induced barley, attached, leaf senescence (DILS) as a model and discusses the possibility of using this crop system for studying senescence and autophagy mechanisms. It addresses the recent progress made in our understanding of DILS. The following aspects are discussed: the importance of chloroplasts as early targets of DILS, the role of Rubisco as the largest repository of recoverable nitrogen in leaves senescing in darkness, morphological changes of these leaves other than those described for chloroplasts and metabolic modifications associated with them, DILS versus developmental leaf senescence transcriptomic differences, and finally the observation that in DILS autophagy participates in the circulation of cell components and acts as a quality control mechanism during senescence. Despite the progression of macroautophagy, the symptoms of degradation can be reversed. In the review, the question also arises how plant cells regulate stress-induced senescence via autophagy and how the function of autophagy switches between cell survival and cell death.
Highlights
In plants, senescence is a highly controlled and active process requiring global metabolic reprogramming, aimed at organized disintegration and remobilization of valuable resources (Himelblau and Amasino, 2001; Maillard et al, 2015)
Senescence is a highly controlled and active process requiring global metabolic reprogramming, aimed at organized disintegration and remobilization of valuable resources (Himelblau and Amasino, 2001; Maillard et al, 2015). It is a fundamental aspect of plant development, necessary to optimize resource allocation and promote phenotypic plasticity to adapt to the environment under restricted conditions
The genome resources available for Arabidopsis have made it a very attractive model of identification and functional analysis of genes regulated by senescence (Buchanan-Wollaston et al, 2003, 2005; Breeze et al, 2011). In many plants, such as barley, the removal of developing flowers and pods significantly extends the life of their leaves, while in Arabidopsis, male-sterile mutants or plants from which developing bolts have been removed do not extend the life of leaves
Summary
Senescence is a highly controlled and active process requiring global metabolic reprogramming, aimed at organized disintegration and remobilization of valuable resources (Himelblau and Amasino, 2001; Maillard et al, 2015). It is a fundamental aspect of plant development, necessary to optimize resource allocation and promote phenotypic plasticity to adapt to the environment under restricted conditions. In terms of stress conditions, this can be beneficial to the plant if a leaf which is not photosynthetically productive undergoes senescence, making its resources available to other organs. For many species of plants, a lack of light in the form of strong shading or darkening of the leaves leads to rapid senescence, especially when only parts of the plant are affected (reviewed in Liebsch and Keech, 2016)
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