INCREASED 1-AMINOCYCLOPROPANE-1-CARBOXYLIC ACID OXIDASE ACTIVITY IN SHOOTS OF FLOODED TOMATO PLANTS RAISES ETHYLENE PRODUCTION TO PHYSIOLOGICALLY ACTIVE LEVELS

Soil flooding increased 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic (ACC) acid oxidase activity in petioles of wild-type tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.) plants within 6 to 12 h in association with faster rates of ethylene production. Petioles of flooded plants transformed with an antisense construct to one isoform of an ACC oxidase gene (ACO1) produced less ethylene and had lower ACC oxidase activity than those of the wild type. Flooding promoted epinastic curvature but did so less strongly in plants transformed with the antisense construct than in the wild type. Exogenous ethylene, supplied to well-drained plants, also promoted epinastic curvature, but transformed and wild-type plants responded similarly. Flooding increased the specific delivery (flux) of ACC to the shoots (picomoles per second per square meter of leaf) in xylem sap flowing from the roots. The amounts were similar in both transformed and wild-type plants. These observations demonstrate that changes in ACC oxidase activity in shoot tissue resulting from either soil flooding or introducing ACC oxidase antisense constructs can influence rates of ethylene production to a physiologically significant extent. They also implicate systemic root to shoot signals in regulating the activity of ACC oxidase in the shoot.