It has been known that the process of leaf senescence is accompanied by programmed cell death (PCD), and the previous study indicated that dark-induced senescence in detached leaves from rice led to the release of cytochrome f (Cyt f) from chloroplast into the cytoplasm. In this study, the effects of Cyt f on PCD were studied both in vitro and in vivo. In a cell-free system, purified Cyt f activated caspase-3-like protease and endonuclease OsNuc37, and induced DNA fragmentation. Furthermore, Cyt f-induced caspase-3-like activity could be inhibited by MG132, which suggests that the activity was attributed to the 26S proteasome. Conditional expression of Cyt f in the cytoplasm could also activate caspase-3-like activity and DNA fragmentation. Fluorescein diacetate staining and annexin V-FITC/PI double staining demonstrated that Cyt f expression in cytoplasm significantly increased the percentage of PCD protoplasts. Yeast two-hybrid screening showed that Cyt f might interact with E3-ubiquitin ligase and RPN9b, the subunits of the ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS), and other PCD-related proteins. Taken together, these results suggest that the released Cyt f from the chloroplast into the cytoplasm might activate or rescue caspase-3-like activity by interacting with the UPS, ultimately leading to the induction of PCD.