Abstract
Abscission has significant implications in agriculture and several efforts have been addressed by researchers to understand its regulatory steps in both model and crop species. Among the main players in abscission, ethylene has exhibited some fascinating features, in that it was shown to be involved at different stages of abscission induction and, in some cases, with interesting roles also within the abscising organ at the very early stages of the process. This review summarizes the current knowledge about the role of ethylene both at the level of the abscission zone and within the shedding organ, pointing out the missing pieces of the very complicated puzzle of the abscission process in the different species.
Highlights
Abscission is a natural mechanism evolved by plants to respond to different cues, generated by the combination of both endogenous and exogenous factors
The commonly accepted sequence of events occurring at the abscission zones (AZs) includes: (i) the AZ cell differentiation, (ii) the AZ acquisition of the competence to respond to the abscission signal/s, (iii) the AZ
Abscission is accomplished through a series of highly coordinated sequential events that have been in large part characterized in model species such as Arabidopsis and tomato
Summary
Abscission is a natural mechanism evolved by plants to respond to different cues, generated by the combination of both endogenous and exogenous factors. The commonly accepted sequence of events occurring at the AZs includes: (i) the AZ cell differentiation, (ii) the AZ acquisition of the competence to respond to the abscission signal/s, (iii) the AZ activation caused by the abscission signals and abscission execution, and (iv) the trans-differentiation of the retained portion of the AZ to build a protective layer Within this physiological model, the roles of ethylene and other hormones such as auxin, and the involvement of the IDA-HAE-HSL2 pathway have been, at least in part, defined mainly in Arabidopsis and are still debated by the abscission community [9], with many open questions still to be answered, especially when this model is transferred to crops. We would rather like to provide a comprehensive, innovative and, hopefully, fascinating point of view about the most likely links between the different steps of the abscission process, under a continuous perspective and not just as watertight compartments
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