ABSTRACILipoxygenase protein and activity were examined during establishment, senescence, and rejuvenation of soybean cotyledons. Lipoxygenase protein, as determined on 'Western' immunoblots, and lipoxygenase-l and -2/3 activities decreased during mobilization of seed reserves 3 to 9 days following planting. Lipoxygenase-l activity decreased more rapidly than lipoxygenase-2/3 and was not detectable by 11 days after planting. Lipoxygenase protein increased after day 11 while lipoxygenase-2/3 activity continued to decline. During the later stages of cotyledon senescence, both lipoxygenase protein and lipoxygenase-2/3 activity decreased. Upon rejuvenation, lipoxygenase-2/3 activity, but not that of lipoxygenase-l, increased. These results demonstrate that elevated lipoxygenase activity does not represent a universal characteristic of senescent plant tissue.The senescence of cotyledons on dicotyledonous plants, like leaf senescence, represents a genetically programmed sequence of events which ultimately results in the deterioration of mature cells (27). Senescing cotyledons undergo a number of complex ultrastructural and metabolic changes. Protein, DNA, RNA, and Chl levels progressively decline (4,11,27). A large number of enzyme activities change during senescence (4, 16). Senescence of soybean cotyledons is also accompanied by a decrease in translational capacity as measured in vitro by the ability of isolated ribosomes and supernatant fractions to carry out the polyuridylic acid-directed incorporation of phenylalanine (22) and in vivo by 35S-methionine incorporation into protein by cotyledon discs (24). This decrease in total translational capacity does not represent a specific decrease in the synthesis of all proteins (24) and has been associated with a decrease in both mRNA (3, 24) and polysomes (3).A decrease in membrane integrity and loss of cellular compartmentation are also observed during cotyledon senescence. Electron micrographs of soybean cotyledons (28) reveal the disruption and loss of both organelle and plasma membranes during the later stages of senescence. As senescence progresses in Phaseolus vulgaris cotyledons, the lipid phase transition temperature, measured by x-ray diffraction, increases and an increased proportion of isolated microsomal membranes exists in a gelphase at physiological temperatures (17). The resulting combination of gel and liquid-crystalline phases within the bilayer