Transformation of Arabidopsis with the codA gene for choline oxidase enhances freezing tolerance of plants.

Arabidopsis thaliana was transformed with the codA gene from Arthrobacter globiformis, which encodes choline oxidase, the enzyme that synthesizes glycinebetaine from choline. The transformation enabled the plants to accumulate glycinebetaine in chloroplasts, and significantly enhanced the freezing tolerance of plants. Furthermore, the photosynthetic machinery of transformed plants was more tolerant to freezing stress than that of wild-type plants. Exogenous application of glycinebetaine also increased the freezing tolerance of wild-type plants, suggesting that the presence of glycinebetaine in transformed plants had enhanced their ability to tolerate freezing stress. Northern blotting analysis revealed that the enhancement of freezing tolerance was not related to the expression of four cold-regulated genes. These results suggest that engineering of the biosynthesis of glycinebetaine by transformation with the codA gene might be an effective method for enhancing the freezing tolerance of plants.