Molecular cloning and expression patterns of three putative functional aldehyde oxidase genes and isolation of two aldehyde oxidase pseudogenes in tomato

The final steps in the biosynthesis of the plant hormones abscisic acid (AB A) and indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) have been shown to be catalyzed by aldehy de oxidases (AO). We have cloned three putative functional AO genes (TAO1, TAO2 and TAO3) and two putative AO pseudogenes (TAO4 and TAO5) in tomato. T he TAO1 cDNA described here includes the correct amino terminus of the enco ded TAO1 protein and is different at the 5'-end from the TAO1 sequence in G enBank (accession number U82558). Northern analysis shows that TAO1 is expr essed mainly in vegetative tissues and TAO2 is expressed in both vegetative and reproductive tissues. TAO3 expression was not detectable by Northern h ybridization. These results suggest that each AO may play different roles i n the regulation of tomato growth and development. (C) 2000 Elsevier Scienc e B.V. All rights reserved.