Deciduous trees exhibit a spectacular phenomenon of autumn senescence driven by the seasonality of their growth environment, yet there is no consensus which external or internal cues trigger it. Senescence starts at different times in European aspen (Populus tremula L.) genotypes grown in same location. By integrating omics studies, we demonstrate that aspen genotypes utilize similar transcriptional cascades and metabolic cues to initiate senescence, but at different times during autumn. The timing of autumn senescence initiation appeared to be controlled by two consecutive "switches"; 1) first the environmental variation induced the rewiring of the transcriptional network, stress signalling pathways and metabolic perturbations and 2) the start of senescence process was defined by the ability of the genotype to activate and sustain stress tolerance mechanisms mediated by salicylic acid. We propose that salicylic acid represses the onset of leaf senescence in stressful natural conditions, rather than promoting it as often observed in annual plants.

Laboratory of Growth Regulators Faculty of Science Palacký University and Institute of Experimental Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences Šlechtitelů 27 CZ 783 71 Olomouc Czech Republic

Section of Molecular Plant Biology Department of Biology University of Oxford Oxford UK

Umeå Plant Science Centre Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences 901 83 Umeå Sweden

Umeå Plant Science Centre Department of Plant Physiology Umeå University 90189 Umeå Sweden

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