Improved salt tolerance in tobacco plants by co-transformation of a betaine synthesis gene BADH and a vacuolar Na+/H+ antiporter gene SeNHX1

Three types of transgenic tobacco plants were acquired by separate transformation or co-transformation of a vacuolar Na+/H+ antiporter gene, SeNHX1, and a betaine synthesis gene, BADH. When exposed to 200 mM NaCl, the dual gene-transformed plants displayed greater accumulation of betaine and Na+ than their wild-type counterparts. Photosynthetic rate and photosystem II activity in the transgenic plants were less affected by salt stress than wild-type plants. Transgenic plants exhibited a greater increase in osmotic pressure than wild-type plants when exposed to NaCl. More importantly, the dual gene transformed plants accumulated higher biomass than either of the single transgenic plants under salt stress. Taken together, these findings indicate that simultaneous transformation of BADH and SeNHX1 genes into tobacco plants can enable plants to accumulate betaine and Na+, thus conferring them more tolerance to salinity than either of the single gene transformed plants or wild-type tobacco plants.