Free radicals play little role in the conversion of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid to ethylene in carnation membrane fraction

The role of free radicals in the conversion of 1-aminocyclopropane-l-carboxylic acid (ACC) to ethylene by a membrane-bound enzyme from carnation petals was studied. The membrane preparation oxidized ACC more effectively than it oxidized cyclopropaneamine or 2-keto-4-methylthiobutyric acid (KMB). All these substrates were oxidized chemically by NaOCl to ethylene very effectively. Free radicals generated by the xanthine/xanthine oxidase system oxidized KMB far more effectively than it oxidized ACC; only 0.004% of the ACC included in the reaction mixture was oxidized in 1 h, compared with 0.9% of the KMB. Conversion of ACC to ethylene by the membrane-bound enzyme was inhibited by Co²⁺, ATP and EDTA, while the inhibition of the oxidation of KMB by the same inhibitors was much less pronounced. These results suggest that ACC, the natural immediate precursor of ethylene, is specifically oxidized by the membrane-bound enzyme rather than through a nonspecific oxidation by free radicals.