Delayed leaf senescence in ethylene‐deficient ACC‐oxidase antisense tomato plants: molecular and physiological analysis

Summary To determine the role of ethylene during tomato ( Lycopersicon esculentum Mill. cv. Alisa Craig) leaf senescence, transgenic ACC oxidase antisense plants were analysed. Northern analysis of wild‐type plants indicated that ACC oxidase mRNA accumulation normally begins in pre‐senescent green leaves but was severely reduced in the antisense plants. Although the levels of ethylene evolved by wild‐type and transgenic leaves increased during the progression of senescence, levels were extremely low in transgenic leaves. Leaf senescence, as assessed by colour change from green to yellow, was clearly delayed by 10–14 days in the antisense plants when compared with wild‐type plants. Northern analysis of the photosynthesis‐associated genes, cab and rbcS , indicated that levels of the corresponding mRNAs were higher in transgenic leaves which were not yet senescing compared with senescing wild‐type leaves of exactly the same age. Northern analysis using probes for tomato fruit ripening‐related genes expressed during leaf senescence indicated that once senescence was initiated the expression pattern of these mRNAs was similar in transgenic and wild‐type leaves. In the antisense plants chlorophyll levels, photosynthetic capacity and chlorophyll fluorescence were higher when compared with senescing wild‐type plants of the same age. Photosynthetic capacity and the quantum efficiency of photosystem II were maintained for longer in the transformed plants at values close to those observed in wild‐type leaves prior to the visible onset of senescence. These results indicate that inhibiting ACC oxidase expression and ethylene synthesis results in delayed leaf senescence, rather than inducing a stay‐green phenotype. Once senescence begins, it progresses normally. Onset of senescence is not, therefore, related to a critical level of ethylene. The correlation between higher levels prior to senescence and early onset, however, suggests that ethylene experienced by the plant may be a significant contributing factor in the timing of senescence.