JXB Advance Access originally published online on March 10, 2009
Journal of Experimental Botany 2009 60(4):1063-1066; doi:10.1093/jxb/erp067
eXtra Botany |
Sugars, senescence, and ageing in plants and heterotrophic organisms
1Research Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, Darwin Building, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
2Unité de la Nutrition Azotée des Plantes, UR511, INRA Versailles, Route de St Cyr, F-78000 Versailles, France
3Department of Plant Sciences and Plant Pathology, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717-3150, USA
* To whom correspondence should be addressed: E-mail: a.wingler{at}ucl.ac.uk
Although an involvement of metabolic signals in the regulation of plant senescence has been demonstrated in a range of studies, the exact signalling pathways remain largely unresolved. For leaves, evidence supports a role of sugar accumulation in the initiation and/or acceleration of senescence. However, regulation of senescence or ageing may respond to different metabolic signals in heterotrophic plant organs and heterotrophic organisms. In animals and yeast, dietary restriction results in increased lifespan. In this article, the metabolic regulation of leaf senescence is compared with the effects of dietary restriction. Similarities and differences in the signalling pathways are discussed, including the role of autophagy, TOR (target of rapamycin), Sir2 (silent information regulator-2), and SnRK1 (sucrose non-fermenting-1-related protein kinase-1).