ACS1 — Solanum lycopersicum

Summary

SlACS1 (SOLYC12G056180.3) on tomato chromosome 12 encodes a 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate synthase, an enzyme with pyridoxal phosphate-dependent transaminase activity that also exhibits protein phosphatase and kinase-binding functions. The gene is associated with fruit ripening, ACC accumulation, and ethylene biosynthesis, as well as with lycopene and carotenoid content, pigmentation, and chlorophyll breakdown. It has been linked to fruit firmness, color, and shape, seed yield and maturation, germination rate, vegetative vigor, leaf and shoot growth traits, root development, and responses to waterlogging, salt, cadmium, hypoxia, nitrogen deficiency, and Verticillium wilt. Additional associations include strigolactone and abscisic acid anabolism, auxin homeostasis, sucrose transport, and cellular responses to nutrient starvation. The protein localizes to the cytosol, plastid, mitochondria, plasmalemma, Golgi, vacuole, and plasmodesmata. Studies of related genes in other species connect the ACS family to sex determination, leaf senescence, disease resistance, and stress tolerance.