Dual positional specificity of wound-responsive lipoxygenase from maize seedlings

Wound-responsive lipoxygenase full-length cDNA from Zea mays was used to heterologously express the lipoxygenase enzyme and positional specificity of the lipoxygenase reaction was determined. The purified lipoxygenase catalyzed the conversion of α-linolenic acid into both 13-hydroperoxylinolenic acid and 9-hydroperoxylinolenic acid with a ratio of 6 to 4. The phylogenetic tree analysis indicated that the lipoxygenase is a type 1-lipoxygenase and belongs to 9-lipoxygenase subfamily with exceptional positional specificity. Dual positional specificity of the wound-responsive lipoxygenase indicates the versatile utilization of a singular lipoxygenase species as both 13-lipoxygenase and 9-lipoxygenase.