Plant proteases and programmed cell death

Proteolysis affects many processes in plant development and during stress responses, as well as being crucial in cellular protein homeostasis and recycling of resources. Beyond bulk degradation, proteases can have important signaling functions or affect cellular pathways by precise cleavage of signaling proteins. This special issue covers key research themes in the diverse but increasingly interconnected fields of programmed cell death (PCD) and plant protease activity. Future trends are also highlighted, such as accelerated substrate discovery facilitated by large-scale deposition of N-terminomic data to easily accessible databases, or better profiling using genetically encoded protease activity reporters.