Plant Cell Death Processes

Throughout 26 chapters Plant Cell Death Processes discusses all essential topics of plant senescence from molecular approaches to ecological and evolutionary considerations. An introductory chapter together with comparative cell death and integrative whole plant senescence chapters provide updated perspectives which will be appreciated by both specialized and general interest readers. Going into basic mechanisms, chapters provide a full account of the different senescence-related processes with special emphasis on recent molecular and genetic approaches connecting pioneering senescence investigations, programmed cell death (PCD) in plants and animals and responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. Far from a descriptive approach, introductory and ecological chapters provide excellent complements to the integrative explanations in the chapters devoted to specific processes or organs. Triggering factors, cause-effect sequences of processes an the ecological-evolutionary fitness meaning of senescence are the key questions in the field. They are competently treated through specific perspectives in the different chapters, avoiding simplifications and showing their complexity and molecular relations with other processes previously considered outside of the senescence field. In my opinion, Plant Cell Death Processes will be an obligate reference book for those investigating in plant senescence and in several fields sharing molecular processes with senescence. -Prof. Bartolomé Sabater, Universidad de Alcalá, Madrid, Spain