Cloning and Characterization of a Carotenoid Cleavage Dioxygenase from Artemisia Annua L

In order to discover the formation mechanism of carotenoid derived aroma, which has been wildly used on protection of crop against insect attacks, the full-length cDNA of an Artemisia annua carotenoid cleavage dioxygenase (AaCCD1) was cloned by rapid amplification of cDNA ends. The function of AaCCD1 was characterized by expression of AaCCD1 in a strain of E. coli accumulating carotenoids and enzyme assay in vitro. The completed open read frame of AaCCD1 was 1629 bp and it encoded a 542-amino acid protein with a 77% amino acid identity to Arabidopsis thaliana CCD1, a predicted molecular mass of 61.04 kDa and a pI of 5.8. AaCCD1 efficiently cleaves carotenoids and regulate the formation of terpenoid compounds. This is the first time to report the cloning and identification of carotenoid cleavage dioxygenase from Atemisia annua , which will play a great role on understanding the regulation of volatile compounds.