植物胺氧化酶（AOs）在植物体内通过对生物胺的氧化脱氨作用生成相应的醛、过氧化氢和其它含氮类物质。在过去的研究中发现AOs利用调节植物细胞中胺和相应产物的含量来增强植物的抗逆性，并参与信号转导及细胞程序化死亡等一系列生理过程。植物AOs的研究主要集中在二胺和多胺氧化酶方面，而关于单胺氧化酶（MAO）的研究报道很少。最新的研究证实了禾本科植物幼苗体内存在含黄素腺嘌呤二核苷酸（FAD）的MAO，但缺少系统性研究，而且对其分子特性、细胞定位、生理生化功能等方面的研究还处于起步阶段，有待于学者们去探索和研究。本项目研究以玉米作为材料，对MAO进行分离纯化，并对其分子结构特点、基本特性、细胞化学定位等方面进行分析研究，可为今后关于植物MAO的生理生化功能及植物抗逆性等研究奠定一定的基础，也为植物体内单胺代谢途径方面的研究寻找新的依据。

Biogenic amines are oxidatively deaminated by amine oxidases (AOs) in a reaction consuming O2and H2O and producing the corresponding aldehyde, the removed amine moiety and H2O2. In plants, it is believed that AOs involve in the regulation of fundamental cellular processes, such as cell growth, signalling, programmed cell death, development and defence, by regulating cellular amines levels. There were absently available references of plant monoamine oxidase (MAO), though abundant of reports about di-and polyamine oxidases were published. FAD-containing plant MAO was identified existing in graminaceous plant in recent researches, but no information about physiological, biochemical and molecular features of plant MAO. Knowledge implementation in this field using innovative research strategies will be fundamental in the context of improvement of crop resistance against stress and finding other pathways of amines catabolism. In this fellowship project, we want to reveal the details of maize MAO purification procedure, characterisation, catalytic specificity, cytochemical localization and so on.