By over producing the A. bisulcatus enzyme selenocysteine methyltransferase in A. thaliana, we have introduced a novel biosynthetic ability that allows the non-accumulator to accumulate Se-methylselenocysteine and γ-glutamylmethylselenocysteine in shoots.
The fact that many agronomically important crops, such as rice and potato, are betain-deficient has inevitably led to proposals that it might be possible to increase stress tolerance by genetic manipulation that would allow non-accumulators or low-level accumulators to accumulate betain at protective levels (McCue and Hanson 1990).
The majority of plants can be classified as non-accumulator plants.
(Pence et al. 2000) could show that the Zn2+ transporter ZnT1 is overexpressed in the hyperaccumulator Noccaea caerulescens compared to the non-accumulator N. arvense.
or Si non-accumulators (less than 3 mg Si/g dry matter), such as most dicotyledons, including legumes [19, 20].
Another vacuolar membrane transporter, the Zn/H+ antiporter (metal tolerance protein, MTP1 a member of cation diffusion facilitator (CDF) protein family) is highly overexpressed in the aforementioned hyperaccumulating plants compared to their closed related non-accumulators (Drager et al. 2004).
Here, we describe the successful use of A. bisulcatus genetic material to engineer MeSeCys metabolism in the Se non-accumulator A. thaliana.
Here, we describe the overexpression of a selenocysteine methyltransferase from A. bisulcatus to engineer Se-methylselenocysteine metabolism in the Se non-accumulator Arabidopsis thaliana (Thale cress).
Previous biochemical comparisons between T. goesingense and the closely related non-accumulator A. thaliana, revealed that in T. goesingense constitutively elevated GSH levels, driven by higher activity of the enzyme serine acetyltransferase (SAT), are partly responsible for the elevated Ni tolerance observed in this species [ 19].
Rice is defined as non-GB accumulator, since there is no evidence of detectable GB accumulation in rice plants [ 64].
At the gold mine site contaminated with As in Yellowknife of Canada, the metalloid content of non-As accumulators was elevated, i.e., at 8.3 mg kg−1 dm in L. scabrum, 14 mg kg−1 dm in Psathyrella candolleana, and 36 mg kg−1 dm in P. involutus (Koch et al. 2000).
