Journal
ARCHIVES OF MICROBIOLOGY
Volume 194, Issue 11, Pages 909-914Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s00203-012-0824-z
Keywords
Aphanothece halophytica; Betaine; Glycine methylation; Salt tolerance
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Funding
- Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of Japan
- International Center for Green Biotechnology of Meijo University
- Asia Research Center, Chulalongkorn University
- Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research [22310131] Funding Source: KAKEN
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Photosynthetic, nitrogen-fixing Anabaena strains play an important role in the carbon and nitrogen cycles in tropical paddy fields although they are salt sensitive. Improvement in salt tolerance of Anabaena cells by expressing glycine betaine-synthesizing genes is an interesting subject. Due to the absence of choline in cyanobacteria, choline-oxidizing enzyme could not be used for the synthesis of glycine betaine. Here, the genes encoding glycine-sarcosine and dimethylglycine methyltransferases (ApGSMT-DMT) from a halotolerant cyanobacterium Aphanothece halophytica were expressed in Anabaena sp. strain PCC7120. The ApGSMT-DMT-expressing Anabaena cells were capable of synthesizing glycine betaine without the addition of any substance. The accumulation level of glycine betaine in Anabaena increased with rise of salt concentration. The transformed cells exhibited an improved growth and more tolerance to salinity than the control cells. The present work provides a prospect to engineer a nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium having enhanced tolerance to stress by manipulating de novo synthesis of glycine betaine.
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