What is it about?
It is not known whether plants, especially long-lived ones like trees, become old like humans do. One of the difficulties with trees is that 'old' trees are generally tall and large. Their large size may bring about negative consequences. Thus, we need a technique to separate size from age. We used such an experimental technique here and found no metabolic evidence of senescence in Scots pine trees up to 530 years of age.
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Why is it important?
It is important that we understand the physiological bases of ageing in a wide variety of biological organisms, from humans to wild animals. Trees dominate landscapes and help regulate the global carbon cycle of the earth. We need to understand how trees work.
Perspectives
It is known from historical records that some cultivars of grape or pear trees have been propagated for more than 800 years without any losses of quality or quantity to these valuable commodities. How is that possible? How can woody perennial plants defy the apparently irreversible pace of ageing?
Prof Maurizio Mencuccini
University of Edinburgh
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This page is a summary of: No signs of meristem senescence in old Scots pine, Journal of Ecology, February 2014, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1111/1365-2745.12219.
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