Ethylene Treatment in Studying Leaf Senescence in Arabidopsis

Plant leaf senescence is the final process of leaf development that involves the mobilization of nutrients from old leaves to newly growing tissues. Leaf senescence involves a coordinated action at the cellular and organism levels under the control of a highly regulated genetic program. However, leaf senescence is also influenced by multiple internal and environmental signals that are integrated into the age information. Among these internal factors, the simple gaseous phytohormone ethylene is well-known to be an important endogenous modulator of plant leaf senescence and fruit ripening. Ethylene and its biosynthetic precursor ACC (1-aminocyclopropane-l-carboxylic acid) as well as inhibitors of ethylene biosynthesis aminoethoxyvinylglycine (AVG) and action (AgNO₃) or the inhibitor of ethylene perception 1-MCP (1-methylcyclopropene) have been widely used by the research community of plant leaf senescence. However, until now, no systemically experimental method about the usage of ethylene in studying the molecular mechanisms of leaf senescence in Arabidopsis is available. Here, we provide detailed methods for exogenous application of ethylene and its inhibitors in studying Arabidopsis leaf senescence, which has been successfully used in our laboratory.