《in water-stressed bean》.pdfVIP

The 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid cleavage reaction is the key regulatory step of abscisic acid biosynthesis in water-stressed bean Xiaoqiong Qin* and Jan A. D. Zeevaart*†‡ Departments of *Energy Plant Research Laboratory and †Botany and Plant Pathology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824 This contribution is part of the special series of Inaugural Articles by members of the National Academy of Sciences elected on April 28, 1998. Contributed by Jan A. D. Zeevaart, November 4, 1999 Abscisic acid (ABA), a cleavage product of carotenoids, is involved etiolated leaves, there is a 1:1 stoichiometry between the disap- in stress responses in plants. A well known response of plants to pearance of violaxanthin and neoxanthin and the formation of water stress is accumulation of ABA, which is caused by de novo ABA and its catabolites, phaseic acid, and dihydrophaseic acid synthesis. The limiting step of ABA biosynthesis in plants is pre- (2, 6). sumably the cleavage of 9-cis-epoxycarotenoids, the first commit- Direct evidence for the indirect pathway of ABA biosynthesis ted step of ABA biosynthesis. This step generates the C15 interme- has come from the ABA-deficient mutant vp14 of maize and the diate xanthoxin and C25-apocarotenoids. A cDNA, PvNCED1, was cloning of the corresponding gene Vp14 (7). In enzyme assays, cloned from wilted bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) leaves. The the recombinant protein VP14 cleaves 9-cis-epoxycarotenoids 2,398-bp full-length PvNCED1 has an ORF of 615 aa and encodes a (8), thus giving rise to 2-cis,4-trans-xanthoxin and C25- 68-kDa protein. The PvNCED1 protein is imported into chloroplasts, apocarotenoids (Fig. 1). Because there appears to be no isomer- where it is associated with the thylakoids. The recombinant protein ization at the C15