1-Aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate synthase genes: Present and future

Abstract

Hormonal regulation of plant growth and development has always received major attention in plant physiology research. In the past half decade this topic has become a highlight amongst plant molecular biologists. Featuring as the smallest, but by far not the least important hormone, ethylene has been studied in quite some detail from a molecular viewpoint (Van Der Straeten and Van Montagu, 1991). The importance of ethylene in plant development and in response to environmental stimuli, has focused the interest of several laboratories on the molecular regulation of ethylene biosynthesis. Genes encoding 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) synthase, the key regulatory enzyme in ethylene biosynthesis, have been cloned and sequenced from tomato (Van Der Straeten et al. 1990), winter squash (Nakajima et al. 1990), and zucchini (Huang et al. 1991; Sato et al. 1991). A putative gene encoding ACC oxidase or Ethylene Forming Enzyme (EFE), catalyzing the final step in ethylene formation, has also been isolated (Hamilton et al. 1990). In addition, the ethylene signal transduction pathway is being dissected by a genetic strategy i.e. by isolation of mutants with altered ethylene responses (Bleecker et al. 1988; Van Der Straeten et al. 1989; Guzmán and Ecker, 1990). The corresponding genes may be isolated by the combined use of the restriction fragment length polymorphisms, overlapping cosmids, and yeast artificial chromosome libraries. Together, these molecular approaches to ethylene physiology will not only allow a more profound understanding of basic processes of hormonal gene regulation, but also offer possibilities for interesting agricultural applications.KeywordsEthylene BiosynthesisWinter SquashEthylene Signal Transduction PathwayYeast Artificial Chromosome LibraryEthylene Form EnzymeThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.