Abstract: 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.

Key words: aspartic proteinase, processing and inactivation mechanism, stress response, sexual reproduction, programmed cell death