The glycine betaine (betaine), interacts with several types of proteins with diverse structures in vivo, and in the contact regions, the aromatic rings of protein residues are frequently found beside the trimethylammonium group of betaine, implying the importance of the cation−π interactions in recognition of this molecule. The crystal structures determined by X-ray crystallography of the compl...

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...

Flavin-dependent enzymes are characterized by an amazing chemical versatility and play important roles in different cellular pathways. The FAD-containing choline oxidase from Arthrobacter globiformis oxidizes choline to glycine betaine and retains the intermediate betaine aldehyde in the active site. The reduced FAD is oxidized by oxygen. Glycine betaine is an important osmoprotectant accumulat...

BACKGROUND The intrathecal (IT) administration of glycine or GABA(A) receptor antagonist result in a touch evoked allodynia through disinhibition in the spinal cord. Glycine is an inhibitory neurotransmitter that appears to be important in sensory processing in the spinal cord. This study was aimed to evaluate the effect of glycine-related amino acids on antagonizing the effects of IT strychnin...

The response of methanogenesis and sulfate reduction to trimethylamine, choline, and glycine betaine was examined in surface sediments from the intertidal region of Lowes Cove, Maine. Addition of these substrates markedly stimulated methanogenesis in the presence of active sulfate reduction, whereas addition of other substrates, including glucose, acetate, and glycine, had no effect on methane ...

We employed a proteomic profiling strategy to examine the effects of ethanol and betaine diet supplementation on major liver protein level changes. Male Wistar rats were fed control, ethanol or betaine supplemented diets for 4 weeks. Livers were removed and liver cytosolic proteins resolved by one-dimensional and two-dimensional separation techniques. Significant upregulation of betaine homocys...

Serine hydroxymethyltransferase (SHMT) is a key enzyme in cellular one-carbon pathway and has been studied in many living organisms from bacteria to higher plants and mammals. However, biochemical and molecular characterization of SHMT from photoautotrophic microorganisms remains a challenge. Here, we isolated the SHMT gene from a halotolerant cyanobacterium Aphanothece halophytica (ApSHMT) and...

Bacillus subtilis possesses five osmotically regulated transporters (Opu) for the uptake of various compatible solutes for osmoprotective purposes. We have now found that compatible solutes also function as thermoprotectants for B. subtilis. Low concentrations of glycine betaine enhanced the growth of the B. subtilis wild-type strain JH642 at its maximal growth temperature (52 degrees C) but di...

The halophilic methanoarchaeon Methanohalophilus portucalensis can synthesize the osmolyte betaine de novo in response to extracellular salt stress. Betaine is generated by the stepwise methylation of glycine to form sarcosine, N, N-dimethylglycine and betaine by using S-adenosyl-L-methionine (AdoMet) as the methyl donor. The complete gene cluster of Mpgsmt-sdmt was cloned from Southern hybridi...