Cloning and Sequence Analysis of a Novel ACC Oxidase Gene from Peanut (Arachishypogaea L.)

Ethylene plays important roles in seed dormancy. As a key enzyme in ethylene biosynthesis, ACC oxidase gene (ACCO) converts 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) into ethylene. To study the mechanism underlying peanut seed dormancy, cDNA sequence of the candidate gene was isolated from peanut using RACE technique. As in the situation in Arabidopsis, the ACCO from peanut (AhACCO gene) contained four exons and three introns. Homology comparison analysis showed 68–87 % sequence similarity between AhACCO and ACCO genes of other selected plants.