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Regreening of Yellow Leaves

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Plastid Development in Leaves during Growth and Senescence

Part of the book series: Advances in Photosynthesis and Respiration ((AIPH,volume 36))

Summary

Yellowing of leaves is the most widely observed manifestation of senescence in plants. Various aspects of this type of programmed cell death are extensively covered elsewhere in this book. One largely overlooked, and perhaps peculiar, feature of plant senescence is regreening of leaves which are already in advanced stages of yellowing. This rejuvenation of main energetic and nutrition tissues is governed by molecular processes and signals which are mostly uncharacterized and poorly understood. Most of the data describing regreening of leaves comes from ultrastructural studies of plastids found in various stages of this process. Reversal of gerontoplast formation has been studied at the level of plastoglobuli formation and disappearance, reassembly of thylakoid structures, lipid remobilization, photosynthetic pigment retention and synthesis. Several investigations have been also focused on naturally occurring regreening models, either induced by insect habitation on leaves, or by physical damage or removal of meristematic tissues. It is now clear that plant hormones, mostly cytokinins, play very important roles in promoting reassembly of the photosynthetic apparatus and the consequent re-establishment of energy supply to the plant. Furthermore, a special kind of regreening was observed in some aurea mutants of deciduous woody species. Aurea mutants are able to regreen their bleached leaves several times during the vegetation season. It seems that remnants of the thylakoid membrane system are necessary for re-assembly of functional thylakoids in plants.

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Abbreviations

DCMU:

3-(3,4-diclorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea;

DGDG:

Digalactosyl diacylglyceride;

Fm :

Maximal fluorescence;

Fv :

Variable fluorescence or Fm-Fo;

Fv/Fm :

Quantum efficiency or yield;

LHCP:

Light harvesting chlorophyll protein;

MAPK:

Mitogen activated protein kinase;

MDA:

Malonyldialdehyde;

MGDG:

Monogalactosyl diacylglyceride;

NADPH:

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate;

PI:

Performance index;

POR:

Protochlorophyllide ­oxidoreductase;

PS:

Photosystem;

SOD:

Superoxide dismutase

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Acknowledgments

The research in HF laboratory was funded by grant 098-0982913-2838 awarded by Croatian Ministry of Science, Education, and Sports.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Electron Microscopy, Division of Molecular Biology, Ruder Bošković Institute, Bijenička Cesta 54, HR-10 000, Zagreb, Croatia

    Hrvoje Fulgosi, Nikola Ljubešić & Mercedes Wrischer

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  1. Hrvoje Fulgosi
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  2. Nikola Ljubešić
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  3. Mercedes Wrischer
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Correspondence to Hrvoje Fulgosi .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , School of Life Sciences, Sambalpur University, Jyotivihar, Sambalpur, 768019, Orissa, India

    Basanti Biswal

  2. Botanisches Institut, Universität Kiel, Olshausenstr. 40, Kiel, 24118, Germany

    Karin Krupinska

  3. School of Life Sciences, Sambalpur University, Orissa, 768 019, India

    Udaya C. Biswal

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Fulgosi, H., Ljubešić, N., Wrischer, M. (2013). Regreening of Yellow Leaves. In: Biswal, B., Krupinska, K., Biswal, U. (eds) Plastid Development in Leaves during Growth and Senescence. Advances in Photosynthesis and Respiration, vol 36. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5724-0_26

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