Aspartic proteinases constitute one of four super-families of proteolytic enzymes, and are widely distributed in varied living organisms and involved in many biological processes. Compared with other organisms, the research on plant aspartic proteinases is relatively lagging behind. Since the end of last century, significant progress has been made in this area. Except conserved proteinase domain, typical plant aspartic proteinases have a specific insert only in plant. After the separation of plant and animal, the gene family of aspartic proteinases has expanded largely ;these proteinases play important role in whole progress of plant growth and development, especially in stress response, sexual reproduction, senescence and programmed cell death, and the processing and degradation of protein. In this context, the research advances in plant aspartic protease is reviewed and its future development is prospected.%天冬氨酸蛋白酶是四大类蛋白水解酶之一，广泛存在于多种生物中，参与了很多重要的生理过程。相对于其他生物而言，对植物天冬氨酸蛋白酶的研究相对滞后。自20世纪末以来，这一领域的工作取得了重大进展。经典的植物天冬氨酸蛋白酶除了具有保守的蛋白酶结构域外还有一段植物特有的插入片段；在动植物分离之后，植物天冬氨酸蛋白酶基因家族进行了大规模的扩增；该类蛋白酶在植物的整个生长发育过程中发挥重要的功能，尤其是胁迫反应、有性生殖、衰老和程序性死亡以及蛋白质的加工和降解。对近些年植物天冬氨酸蛋白酶的研究进展进行综述，并对其未来的发展进行展望。
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