Recent advances in cellular degradation and nuclear control of leaf senescence.

Senescence is the final stage of plant growth and development and is a highly regulated process at the molecular, cellular, and organismal levels. When triggered by age, hormonal, or environmental cues, plants actively adjust metabolism and gene expressions to execute the progression of senescence. Proper regulation of senescence is vital for the reallocation of nutrients to sink organs to ensure reproductive success and adaptations to stresses. Identification and characterization of hallmarks of leaf senescence are of great importance for understanding the molecular regulatory mechanisms of plant senescence and breeding future crops with more desirable senescence traits. Tremendous progress has been made in elucidating the genetic network underpinning the metabolic and cellular changes in leaf senescence. In this review, we focus on three hallmarks of leaf senescence, chlorophyll and chloroplast degradation, loss of proteostasis, and activation of senescence-associated genes (SAGs), and discuss recent findings of the molecular players and the cross-talks of senescence pathways.