Disease relevance of ECs2604

• We report here the regulated overexpression of Escherichia coli trehalose biosynthetic genes (otsA and otsB) as a fusion gene for manipulating abiotic stress tolerance in rice [1].

High impact information on ECs2604

• The donor subsite of trehalose-6-phosphate synthase: binary complexes with UDP-glucose and UDP-2-deoxy-2-fluoro-glucose at 2 A resolution [2].
• Expression of a bifunctional fusion of the Escherichia coli genes for trehalose-6-phosphate synthase and trehalose-6-phosphate phosphatase in transgenic rice plants increases trehalose accumulation and abiotic stress tolerance without stunting growth [3].
• However, we demonstrate here that a trehalose-free otsA mutant exhibits growth phase-related and osmotic induction of various sigmaS-dependent genes which is indistinguishable from that of an otherwise isogenic wild-type strain and that stationary-phase cells do not accumulate trehalose (even though the trehalose-synthesizing enzymes are induced) [4].
• The otsA gene encodes a trehalose-6-phosphate synthase, a glycosyltransferase which catalyses the synthesis of alpha,alpha-1,1-trehalose-6-phosphate from glucose-6-phosphate using a UDP-glucose donor [5].

Associations of ECs2604 with chemical compounds

• A humanized clone containing the trehalose-6-phosphate synthase and trehalose-6-phosphate phosphatase (otsA/B) has been constructed [6].

References