S‐Adenosyl‐l ‐methionine:(R,S )‐reticuline 7‐O‐methyltransferase converts reticuline to laudanine in tetrahydrobenzylisoquinoline biosynthesis in the opium poppy Papaver somniferum . This enzyme activity has not yet been detected in plants. A proteomic analysis of P. somniferum latex identified a gel spot that contained a protein(s) whose partial amino acid sequences were homologous to those of plant O‐methyltransferases. cDNA was amplified from P. somniferum RNA by reverse transcription PCR using primers based on these internal amino acid sequences. Recombinant protein was then expressed in Spodoptera frugiperda Sf9 cells in a baculovirus expression vector. Steady‐state kinetic measurements with one heterologously expressed enzyme and mass spectrometric analysis of the enzymatic products suggested that this unusual enzyme is capable of carrying through sequential O‐methylations on the isoquinoline and on the benzyl moiety of several substrates. The tetrahydrobenzylisoquinolines (R )‐reticuline (4.2 sec−1 mm −1), (S )‐reticuline (4.5 sec−1 mm −1), (R )‐protosinomenine (1.7 sec−1 mm −1), and (R,S )‐isoorientaline (1.4 sec−1 mm −1) as well as guaiacol (5.9 sec−1 mm −1) and isovanillic acid (1.2 sec−1 mm −1) are O‐methylated by the enzyme with the ratio k cat/K  m shown in parentheses. A P. somniferum cDNA encoding (R,S )‐norcoclaurine 6‐O‐methyltransferase was similarly isolated and characterized. This enzyme was less permissive, methylating only (R,S )‐norcoclaurine (7.4 sec−1 mm −1), (R )‐norprotosinomenine (4.1 sec−1 mm −1), (S )‐norprotosinomenine (4.0 sec−1 mm −1) and (R,S )‐isoorientaline (1.0 sec−1 mm −1). A phylogenetic comparison of the amino acid sequences of these O‐methyltransferases to those from 28 other plant species suggests that these enzymes group more closely to isoquinoline biosynthetic O‐methyltransferases from Coptis japonica than to those from Thalictrum tuberosum that can O‐methylate both alkaloid and phenylpropanoid substrates.

The allene oxide cyclase (AOC)‐catalyzed step in jasmonate (JA) biosynthesis is important in the wound response of tomato. As shown by treatments with systemin and its inactive analog, and by analysis of 35S::prosysteminsense and 35S::prosysteminantisense plants, the AOC seems to be activated by systemin (and JA) leading to elevated formation of JA. Data are presented on the local wound response following activation of AOC and generation of JA, both in vascular bundles. The tissue‐specific occurrence of AOC protein and generation of JA is kept upon wounding or other stresses, but is compromised in 35S::AOCsense plants, whereas 35S::AOCantisense plants exhibited residual AOC expression, a less than 10% rise in JA, and no detectable expression of wound response genes. The (i) activation of systemin‐dependent AOC and JA biosynthesis occurring only upon substrate generation, (ii) the tissue‐specific occurrence of AOC in vascular bundles, where the prosystemin gene is expressed, and (iii) the tissue‐specific generation of JA suggest an amplification in the wound response of tomato leaves allowing local and rapid defense responses.