Abstract: Total RNA was extracted from petals of 'Luoyang Hong' tree peony (Paeonia suffruticosa) with CTAB method, and a pair of degenerated primer was designed based on the reported conserved amino acid sequence of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid oxidase (ACO). A cDNA fragment with 821 bp was amplified by RT-PCR, and then full length of it, named Ps-ACO1 (GenBank No. DQ337251), was obtained by RACE and sequence spliced. Sequence analysis indicated that Ps-ACO1 is 1 221 bp in full length and contains a 939 bp open reading frame flanking by a 65 bp 5′-non-translation region and a 117 bp 3′-non-translation region, and encodes a 321 predicated amino acid residues which shared more than 80% homology with ACO of tobacco, apple, and peach and so on.

Key words: tree peony, ACC oxidase, RT-PCR, RACE, sequence analysis