Environmental and Economical Opportunities for the Valorisation of the Genus Atriplex: New Insights - Crop Improvement: New Approaches and Modern Techniques - page 444

Table 16.3 Genes isolated from some Atriplex species
Species Gene Gene Bank Product Reference

A. gmelini AgNHX1 AB038492 Antiporter Na + /H + Hamada et al. 2001

A. nummularia AnGAPDH U02886.1 Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate

dehydrogenase

Niu et al. 1994

AnCMO AB112481 Choline monooxygenase Tabuchi et al. 2005

AnPEAMT AB196771 Phosphoethanolamine
N-methyltransferase

Tabuchi et al. 2005

AnSAMS AB183565 S-adenosyl-L-methionine
synthase 5

Tabuchi et al. 2005

H + - ATPase - PM H + -ATPase Niu et al. 1993

A. hortensis AhCMO AF270651 Choline monooxygenase Zhang et al. 2009 ;

Shen et al. 2002

AhBADH DQ497233 Betaine aldehyde
dehydrogenase

A. prostrata ApCMO AY082068 Choline monooxygenase Wang et al. 2004

A. centralasi-
atica

AcBADH AY093684 Betaine aldehyde

dehydrogenase

Yin et al. 2002

A. halimus AsDBRE JF451138 DRE binding transcription

factor

Khedr et al. 2011

A. littoralis (Bylka 2004 ). Other earlier works suggested the presence the narin-
gin, naringenin 7-O-glucoside, isorhamnetin 3-O-rhamnosyl (1-6) glucopyranoside
and isorhamnetin 7-O-glucopyranoside in A. farinose (Al-Jaber et al. 1992 ). More
recently, two new flavonoids, quercetin 6,4′-dimethoxy-3-fructo-rhamnoside and
quercetin 4′-methoxy-3-fructo-rhamnoside in addition to another five known com-
pounds were isolated from A. lentiformis (Torr.) S. Wats (Awaad et al. 2012 ). All of
the extracts and the isolated compounds were tested for their antioxidant activity,
the two new compounds were found to have the highest antioxidant activity with
no side effect.

Isolation and Characterization of Genes
from Atriplex Species

Atriplex species are among the most salt tolerant higher plants. And the elucidation
of its salt tolerance mechanisms is of significance for generating salt tolerant crops
via selective breeding or genetic engineering. Studying the regulation of stress in-
ducible genes can lead to understanding of the mechanisms by which halophytes
maintain growth and thrive under abiotic stress. Several stress related genes have
been isolated from these halophytes (Table 16.3 ). Both glycophytes and halophytes
cannot tolerate large amounts of salt in the cytoplasm. Plants maintain a low con-
centration of Na + in the cytosol by active exclusion of Na + ions into the apoplast
and vacuole by using specific plasma membrane and tonoplast Na + /H + antiporter