Ethylene is a simple gaseous plant hormone produced by higher plants, bacteria and fungi. Thanks to new tools that have become available in biochemistry and molecular genetics, parts of the ethylene biosynthesis, perception and signal transduction reactions have been elucidated. This knowledge has been applied to enhance the quality of a number of agronomically important crops. In Biology and Biotechnology of the Plant Hormone Ethylene, leading figures in the field provide surveys of the current state of ethylene biosynthesis and action, perception and signal transduction pathways, senescence, biotechnological control, and the involvement of ethylene in pathogenesis and stress.
Audience: Indispensable to all academic, industrial and agricultural researchers as well as undergraduates and graduates in plant biology, biochemistry, genetics, molecular biology and food science.

Zusammenfassung
Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop, Chania, Crete, Greece, 9-13 June 1996

Inhalt

1. Biochemical and Molecular Mechanisms of Ethylene Synthesis.- Structure-function analysis of tomato ACC synthase.- Structure-function analysis of ACC oxidase by site-directed mutagenesis.- 1-Aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate oxidase: molecular structure and catalytic function 1.- On 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) oxidase: Degradation of ?-aminoisobutyric acid and structure-function studies on the CO2 binding site.- Regulation of auxin-induced ethylene biosynthesis in etiolated pea stems.- The role of jasmonates in ethylene biosynthesis.- Ethylene biosynthesis and its regulation in ripening Hayward kiwifruit.- 2. Perception and Signal Transduction Pathways.- Two-component regulators and ethylene signal transduction in Arabidopsis.- The Ethylene Binding Site of the ETR1 Protein.- The ethylene receptor gene family in Arabidopsis.- Ethylene signal perception and transduction.- 3. Growth and Development.- Ethylene and Arabidopsis rosette development.- Ethylene regulates life-span in cells of reproductive organs in Pisum sativum.- Fluctuations in ethylene formation and flowering in Chenopodium rubrum.- Regulation of circadianly rhythmic ethylene production by phytochrome B in Sorghum.- Ethylene involvement in the dormancy of Amaranthus seeds.- Control of gene transcription by ethylene during tomato fruit ripening.- Molecular genetic analysis of ethylene-regulated and developmental components of tomato fruit ripening: Ethylene and Developmental Signal Transduction in Tomato.- The role of ethylene in banana fruit ripening.- The modulation of ethylene biosynthesis and ACC oxidase gene expression during peach fruit development and fruitlet abscission.- 4. Ethylene and Senescence of Plant Organs.- Transcriptional regulation of senescence-related genes incarnation flowers.- Ethylene: interorgan signaling and modeling of binding site structure.- An ethylene-regulated DNA element in abscission-specific gene promoters and the expression of an ETR1 homologue in tomato abscission.- Spatial and temporal expression of abscission related genes during ethylene-promoted organ shedding.- Different endo-?-l, 4-glucanases are expressed during abscission and fruit ripening in pepper and peach plants.- The tomato endo-?-1, 4-glucanase gene family: regulation by both ethylene and auxin.- 5. Stress Ethylene.- Ethylene synthesis and a role in plant responses to different stressors.- Ethylene and the defense against endogenous oxidative stress in higher plants.- Potamogeton pectinatus: a vascular plant that makes no ethylene.- Hypoxia and fruit ripening.- Ethylene regulation by the nitric oxide (NO) free radical: a possible mode of action of endogenous NO.- Ethylene synthesis in tomato plants exposed to ozone: The Role of Ethylene in Ozone Damage.- Involvement of ethylene in protein elicitor-induced plant responses.- Changes in in vivo and in vitro ACC oxidase activities during chilling and subsequent warming as exemplified by Vigna radiata seedlings.- Impact assessment for ethylene emissions at a petrochemical site.- 6. Biotechnological Control of Ethylene.- Potential applications of controlling ethylene synthesis and perception in transgenicplants.- Regulation of ethylene synthesis and perception in tomato and its control using gene technology.- Reduced ethylene synthesis and ripening control in tomatoes expressing S-adenosylmethionine hydrolase.- Interactions of ethylene and polyamines in regulating fruit ripening.- Differential expression of ACC oxidase genes in melon and physiological characterization of fruit expressing anantisense ACC oxidase.- Genetic modification of ethylene biosynthesis and ethylene sensitivity in carnation.- Modulation of ethylene production in transgenic tobacco.- Index of Authors.- Index of Keywords.