Senescence

Senescent cells cannot divide, but yet still remain metabolically active. In humans, the process of senescence may be the cause of aging that, over time, evolved to stop cancer (the uncontrolled growth of cells.) In plants, senescence starts from the moment they are harvested. It is the start of the terminal phase in the life cycle of the plant, the beginning of the end. As you can see, senescence has both positive and negative effects …

…are making progress. On October 4, 1999, Senesco delayed senescence in detached leaves of the Arabidopsis plant. The genetically altered leaves stayed green for ten days, whereas unaltered leaves started turning yellow within two or three days. After one week, chlorophyll levels were on an average of eight hundred percent higher in the altered leaves than the unaltered leaves. This has great effects on to fresh produce, such as lettuce, that has been harvested for the market.