The effects of wounding and jasmonic acid(JA) on polyphenol oxidase(PPO) in tomato(Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) seedlings were investigated. PPO was strongly induced by wounding or JA, and the response was also shown to be systemically induced by wounding. Mechanical wounding in cotyledon or leaf produced a signal that caused the concentration of PPO to increase in the unwounded cotyledon, in the first leaves but not in the second leaves. Severity of wounding and light intensity also affected wound induced change in PPO activity, JA showed a stimulatory effect on the loss of chlorophyll and the rapid increase in PPO activity. The PPO was clearly more active in the wounded leaves than in controls. The potency and specificity of the JA indicate a close relationship between JA and wound-induced changes in PPO in tomato species. JA and abscisic acid(ABA) acted similarly on both unwounded and wounded leaves, but the amount of PPO in the wounded leaves was always more than the respective controls. The highest increase in PPO activity occurred in woundand JA-induced leaves of seedlings kept under bright lighting. Benzyladenine(BA) completely abolished JA- and ABA-induced PPO activity. The results suggest that JA-induced PPO activity is due to de novo PPO synthesis. Histochemical tests for PPO in stems of wound- and JA -treated tomato plants indicate that PPO was localized primarily, in the. outer .cortex . and xylem parenchyma. It is concluded that exogenously applied JA acts as stress agents and PPO may be a component of the inducible anti-hervivore defense response.