The bacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustris grows with the aromatic acid benzoate and the alicyclic acid cyclohexanecarboxylate (CHC) as sole carbon sources. The enzymatic steps in an oxygen-independent pathway for CHC degradation have been elucidated, but it was unknown how the CHC operon (badHI aliAB badK) encoding the enzymes for CHC degradation was regulated. aliA and aliB encode enzymes for t...

A halophyte, common glasswort (Salicornia europaea L.), showed no phytotoxic or deficiency symptom at 100 and 300 mM NaCl, whereas plant growth was stunted at 0, 500, and 700 mM NaCl. In addition, the water content was lower within the shoots at 0 mM NaCl, as compared with the range of NaCl treatments. Under NaCl treatment, Naþ levels increased in the shoot and the root, whereas the levels of o...

Glycine betaine is an important quaternary ammonium compound that is produced in response to several abiotic stresses in many organisms. The synthesis of glycine betaine requires the catalysis of betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase (BADH), which can convert betaine aldehyde into glycine betaine in plants, especially in halotolerant plants. In this study, we isolated the full-length cDNA of BADH from...

Fragrance in rice is one of the most important quality traits, which resulted from loss function betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase ( Badh2 ) gene on chromosome 8. The mutation of   leads to accumulation 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (2-AP), known as main volatile fragrant rice. At least 18 allelic variations have been identified in   genes Marker assisted selection has proved be an effe...

Genetically engineered tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) with the ability to synthesis glycinebetaine was established by introducing the BADH gene for betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase from spinach (Spinacia oleracea). The genetic engineering enabled the plants to accumulate glycinebetaine mainly in chloroplasts and resulted in enhanced tolerance to high temperature stress during growth of young seedlin...

As a first step towards the elucidation of the molecular mechanisms responsible for the utilization of choline and glycine betaine (betaine) either as carbon and nitrogen sources or as osmoprotectants in Sinorhizobium meliloti, we selected a Tn5 mutant, LTS23-1020, which failed to grow on choline but grew on betaine. The mutant was deficient in choline dehydrogenase (CDH) activity, failed to ox...