| Summary: | Leaf senescence represents the final stage of leaf development and is regulated by diverse internal and environmental factors. Jasmonates (JAs) have been demonstrated to induce leaf senescence in several species; however, the mechanisms of JA-induced leaf senescence remain largely unknown in tomato plants (<i>Solanum lycopersicum</i>). In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that sedoheptulose-1,7-bisphosphatase (SBPase), an enzyme functioning in the photosynthetic carbon fixation in the Calvin⁻Benson cycle, was involved in methyl jasmonate (MeJA)- and dark-induced leaf senescence in tomato plants. We found that MeJA and dark induced senescence in detached tomato leaves and concomitantly downregulated the expression of <i>SlSBPASE</i> and reduced SBPase activity. Furthermore, CRISPR/Cas9 (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein 9)-mediated mutagenesis of <i>SlSBPASE</i> led to senescence-associated characteristics in <i>slsbpase</i> mutant plants, including loss of chlorophyll, repressed photosynthesis, increased membrane ion leakage, and enhanced transcript abundance of senescence-associated genes. Collectively, our data suggest that repression of SBPase by MeJA and dark treatment plays a role in JA- and dark-induced leaf senescence.
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