Abstract
Ethylene is one of the simplest organic molecules which affects many aspects of growth, development and senescence of higher plants - biological effects that make it a very versatile plant hormone [21]. For instance, ethylene promotes seed germination [31], leaf senescence [19], flower abscission [27], fruit ripening [6] and development of plant defense systems [5]. In addition, it inhibits cell division and cell differentiation [2, 18, 32]. The biochemical pathway of ethylene synthesis has been elucidated and the enzymes involved have been characterized. The key enzymes regulating the production of ethylene are 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid [ACC) synthase, which catalyzes the formation of ACC from S-adenosylmethionine (AdoMet), and ACC oxidase, which catalyzes the synthesis of ethylene from ACC, in the following metabolic sequence: methionine→ AdoMet→ ACC→ ethylene [35]. The genes encoding ACC synthase and ACC oxidase have been cloned and sequenced from a wide variety of horticultural, agronomic and model plants [14, 33]. Also, molecular analysis of Arabidopsis and tomato mutants has identified the genes that encode proteins that either bind ethylene or regulate ethylene signal transduction pathway [14, 34].
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© 1997 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Mehta, R., Mattoo, A., Handa, A. (1997). Interactions of Ethylene and Polyamines in Regulating Fruit Ripening. In: Kanellis, A.K., Chang, C., Kende, H., Grierson, D. (eds) Biology and Biotechnology of the Plant Hormone Ethylene. NATO ASI Series, vol 34. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5546-5_39
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5546-5_39
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