Why do leaves turn yellow?

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​  Leaf yellowing is most obvious sign of leaf senescence, in which intracellular organelles and macromolecules are actively destabilized to relocate nutrient into developing tissues or storage organs. The initiation of leaf yellowing is controlled by endogenous factors, such as levels of phytohormones and metabolites, and the state of photosynthesis, and external stimuli, such as darkness, light, drought, pathogen, etc.. In crop plants, retaining of greenness greatly affects the yield, thus understanding the regulatory mechanism of leaf yellowing can give us a clue for improving crop production. 

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​ My researches aim at comprehensive understanding the regulatory mechanism of leaf yellowing at molecular level. My major works are in the following.