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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1979 Jun;76(6):2770–2773. doi: 10.1073/pnas.76.6.2770

Relation between senescence and stomatal opening: Senescence in darkness*

Kenneth V Thimann 1, Sergio Satler 1
PMCID: PMC383690  PMID: 16592665

Abstract

The senescence (proteolysis and loss of chlorophyll) of isolated leaves of oat seedlings in the dark is inhibited or delayed by compounds of six different types: phenazine methosulfate, fusicoccin, α,α′-dipyridyl, cycloheximide, spermidine, and two cytokinins. In every case but the last, these compounds in optimum concentration caused the stomata to open and remain partly or completely open throughout the 72- or 96-hr experimental period. The cytokinins caused only a partial opening, which is ascribed to their exerting two different effects. Taken together with the previous report that five different treatments that accelerated or promoted senescence in the light caused stomatal closure or occlusion, these data establish a general parallel between stomatal aperture and senescence, with strong indication that the stomatal aperture is the causal factor. A possible explanation of the relationship is proposed.

Keywords: abscisic acid, cycloheximide, cytokinins, diffusion resistance, dipyridyl, fusicoccin, phenazine methosulfate, spermidine

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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