ENHANCED NACL STRESS TOLERANCE IN TRANSGENIC TOBACCO EXPRESSING BACTERIAL CHOLINE DEHYDROGENASE

The intracellular accumulation of osmoprotectants, such as glycine bet aine and other low molecular weight compounds, is a well investigated response of environmental stress occurring in a wide range of organism s, By introducing the bacterial betA gene, encoding choline dehydrogen ase (CDH), into tobacco both a salt and choline resistant phenotype wa s achieved. As measured by dried weights, there was an 80% increase in salt tolerance between the transgenic and wild-type plants at 300 mM NaCl.