Crystallization of recombinant 1-amino cyclo propane-1-carboxylate (Acc) oxidase

Full text. Ethylene is an important harmone in plant biology because it activates gene expression with consequences at all phases of plant growth and development spanning seed germination to fruit ripening and senesense of plant organs. In climacteric fruits, the sharp increase in ethylene production at the onset of ripening is throught to trigger the changes in colour, aroma, texture and flavour. The final step in ethylene biosynthesis is catalyzed by ACC oxidase. Biothechnological methods have been used to inhibit ethylene biosynthesis and ripening in tomato by down-regulating ACC synthase and ACC oxidase gene expression using the antisense RNA strategy. A similar goal has been achieved by overexpressing a bacterial ACC deaminase or a viral-S-adenosylmethionine hydrolase gene, which reduces the availability of the ethylene precursors., ACC and S-adenosylmethionine, respectively. C02 at concentrations commonly found in the intracellular space of plant tissues is required to active ACC oxidase to produce ethylene and can elevate enzyme activity 20-fold in a concentration dependent manner. Consequently, the intracellular ethylene level is modulated from low inactive levels when C02 is not limiting and this may alter gene expression. ACC oxidase undergoes catalytic inactivation as the reaction to make ethylene procedes and this too may involve CO2. It has been suggested that CO2acts as a modulator of ACC oxidase activity and therby helps regulate ethylene levels in the cell and thus may explain many ethylene related phenomena in plant biology. CO2 is know to affect O2 binding in hemoglobin and ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase-oxygenase (Rubisco). Catalytic inactivation is a common phenomena in enzyme turnover, ACC oxidase is a Fe+2/ascorbate requiring enzyme and this makes it a prime candidate for metal ion oxidation-based inactivation. Charentais melon with an antisense ACC oxidase cDNA. A trangenic line exhibits reduction of ethylene production and inhibition of fruit ripening both on and off the vine. We propose to determine the molecular basis of CO2 in both activating and inactivating ACC oxidase. Our specific objective is to crystallize ACC oxidase and conduct crystallographic analyses to determine the protein structure and the ligands for binding its cofactors Fe+2 and CO2 and substrates ACC, ascorbate and O2. We have been able to obtain needless crystals of ACC oxidase which are currently too small for X-ray diffraction studies. (author)