Overexpression of the formaldehyde dehydrogenase gene from Brevibacillus brevis to enhance formaldehyde tolerance and detoxification of tobacco.

The faldh gene coding for a putative Brevibacillus brevis formaldehyde dehydrogenase (FALDH) was isolated and then transformed into tobacco. A total of three lines of transgenic plants were generated, with each showing 2- to 3-fold higher specific formaldehyde dehydrogenase activities than wild-type tobacco, a result that demonstrates the functional activity of the enzyme in formaldehyde (HCHO) oxidation. Overexpression of faldh in tobacco confers a high tolerance to exogenous HCHO and an increased ability to take up HCHO. A (13)C-nuclear magnetic resonance technique revealed that the transgenic plants were able to oxidize more aqueous HCHO to formate than the wild-type (WT) plants. When treated with gaseous HCHO, the transgenic tobacco exhibited an enhanced ability to transform more HCHO into formate, citrate acid, and malate but less glycine than the WT plants. These results indicate that the increased capacity of the transgenic tobacco to take up, tolerate, and metabolize higher concentrations of HCHO was due to the overexpression of B. brevis FALDH, revealing the essential function of this enzyme in HCHO detoxification. Our results provide a potential genetic engineering strategy for improving the phytoremediation of HCHO pollution.