Listeria monocytogenes is a foodborne pathogen known for its tolerance to conditions of osmotic and chill stress. Accumulation of glycine betaine has been found to be important in the organism's tolerance to both of these stresses. A procedure was developed for the purification of membranes from L. monocytogenes cells in which the putative ATP-driven glycine betaine permease glycine betaine por...

Choline and glycine are inter-related through their roles in methyl metabolism. Choline is metabolized to betaine, which donates a methyl group to homocysteine to form methionine, also generating dimethylglycine, which is further metabolized to glycine. Choline is transported across the placenta and is higher in fetal than maternal plasma. Placental glycine transfer, however, is limited and poo...

Choline and glycine are inter-related through their roles in methyl metabolism. Choline is metabolized to betaine, which donates a methyl group to homocysteine to form methionine, also generating dimethylglycine, which is further metabolized to glycine. Choline is transported across the placenta and is higher in fetal than maternal plasma. Placental glycine transfer, however, is limited and poo...

To further study mechanisms of coping with osmotic stress-low water activity, mutants of Staphylococcus aureus with transposon Tn917-lacZ-induced NaCl sensitivity were selected for impaired ability to grow on solid defined medium containing 2 M NaCl. Southern hybridization experiments showed that NaCl-sensitive mutants had a single copy of the transposon inserted into a DNA fragment of the same...

The symbiotic soil bacterium Sinorhizobium meliloti uses the compatible solutes glycine betaine and proline betaine for both protection against osmotic stress and, at low osmolarities, as an energy source. A PCR strategy based on conserved domains in components of the glycine betaine uptake systems from Escherichia coli (ProU) and Bacillus subtilis (OpuA and OpuC) allowed us to identify a highl...

Glycine betaine is a potent osmoprotectant accumulated by Sinorhizobium meliloti to cope with osmotic stress. The biosynthesis of glycine betaine from choline is encoded by an operon of four genes, betICBA, as determined by sequence and mutant analysis. The betI and betC genes are separated by an intergenic region containing a 130-bp mosaic element that also is present between the betB and betA...

In order to investigate the influence of sulfur coated seeds in SCS (a moisture absorbent polymer layer on seeds) on physiological traits of cotton, a field experiment was conducted in completely randomized design with factorial arrangement with 3 replications. Three planting date included early (E), optimum (O), and delayed (D) planting time. Seed coating priming treatments consisted of F (fuz...

The ability of Erwinia chrysanthemi to cope with environments of elevated osmolality is due in part to the transport and accumulation of osmoprotectants. In this study we have identified a high-affinity glycine betaine and choline transport system in E. chrysanthemi. By using a pool of Tn5-B21 ousA mutants, we isolated a mutant that could grow in the presence of a toxic analogue of glycine beta...

In plants, betaine is synthesized upon abiotic stress via choline oxidation, in which choline monooxygenase (CMO) is a key enzyme. Although it had been thought that betaine synthesis is well regulated to protect abiotic stress, it is shown here that an exogenous supply of precursors such as choline, serine, and glycine in the betaine-accumulating plant Amaranthus tricolor further enhances the a...