Lipoxygenase oxidizes linoleic acid into hydroperoxy octadecadienoic acid (HPOD), which is important in food and flavour industries for production of bread and flavouring compounds. As Lasiodiplodia theobromae is an unexplored, good source of lipoxygenase, it was purified from it by size-exclusion (Sephadex G100) and ion-exchange (DEAE-cellulose) chromatography and characterized. Upon purification, L. theobromae was found to contain two different lipoxygenases, one of 93 kDa (LOX1) and another of 45 kDa (LOX2). Both the isoenzymes were having optimum pH 6.0 and optimum temperatures 50 and 40 degrees C, respectively. The catalytic efficiency of LOX1 and LOX2 was found to be 1300 and 1.67 x 10(9), respectively. The catalytic efficiency of LOX2 is higher than the catalytic efficiency of soya bean LOX1 that is 10.9 x 10(6). Both the isoenzymes of LOX oxidized linoleic acid to produce 9-HPOD and 13-HPOD both; however, LOX1 produced more of 9-HPOD and LOX2 produced more of 13-HPOD. Both the LOXes were not inhibited by jasmonic acid. Addition of LOX1 and LOX2 altered the elasticity as well as viscosity of dough prepared from bleached wheat flour.