Novel broccoli 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate oxidase gene (Bo-ACO3) associated with the late stage of postharvest floret senescence

A novel 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) oxidase gene (Bo-ACO3) was first isolated from senescing broccoli florets by subtractive hybridization. The cDNA clone comprised a 963 bp open reading frame encoding a protein of 321 amino acids. The predicted molecular mass and p/ were 36 kDa and 5.42, respectively. Bo-ACO3 shares 68% identity in the coding region with Bo-ACO1 (ACC Ox1) and Bo-ACO2 (ACC Ox2) and is quite divergent from the 3' untranslated regions. Bo-ACO3 transcript was accumulated to high levels only at the late stage of senescence after harvest. Southern blot hybridization using full-length cDNA as a probe suggested that the Bo-ACO3 gene is a single-copy gene in the broccoli genome. The deduced 321 amino acid sequence of Bo-ACO3 shares 70% identity with either Bo-ACO1 or Bo-ACO2. The BO-ACO3 gene was expressed in Escherichia coli as a 38 kDa active ACO enzyme. It was concluded that Bo-ACO3 is a senescence-associated gene involved in the late-phase senescence of postharvest broccoli.