Roxb. accumulates the highest concentration of the major basmati aroma volatile 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (2AP) in the plant kingdom. The expression of 2AP is correlated with the presence of a nonfunctional betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 in aromatic rice and other plant species. In the present study, a full-length sequence was reconstructed from the transcriptome data of leaf tissue from seedlings. Based on this sequence, a 1509 bp coding sequence was defined that encoded a 54 kD PaBADH2protein. This revealed the presence of a full-length BADH2 protein in . Moreover, quantitative real-time PCR analysis, combined with BADH2 enzyme activity, confirmed the expression and functionality of the PaBADH2 protein. To understand the apparent structural variation, docking analysis was carried out in which protein showed a good affinity with both betaine aldehyde (BAD) and γ-aminobutyraldehyde (GAB-ald) as substrates. Overall, the analysis showed the presence of a functional , along with substantial 2AP synthesis (4.38 ppm). Therefore, we conclude that unlike all other plants studied to date, 2AP biosynthesis in is not due to the inactivation of .