1. What can we learn from the cross-species biology of ageing? 2. Rebirth and death: Nitric oxide and reactive oxygen species in seeds 3. Ageing and oxidants in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans 4. The perception of reactive oxygen species in plants: the road to signal transduction 5. Mechanisms and genes controlling programmed cell death and Darwinian fitness in plants 6. Ageing research in the post-genome era: New technologies for an old problem 7. Telomeres, ageing and oxidation 8. A-type lamins, disease and ageing: A stress-induced relationship? 9. Role of the glyoxalase pathway in delaying plant senescence under stress conditions 10. Catalase regulation during leaf senescence of Arabidopsis 11. Atmospheric CO2 signalling, cellular redox state and plant growth and development 12. Protein damage in the ageing process: Advances in quantitation and the importance of enzymatic defences