Abstract: According to the published sequences of BADH cDNA of several other plants of Chenopodiaceae, two primers have been designed to amplify the fragments of BADH cDNA from Halocnermum strobilaceum(Pall.) Bieb. through RT-PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction). A 1 503 bp fragment containing entire betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase (BADH) coding region of 501 amino acids (aa) has been obtained. Nucleotide sequence of HsBADH was similar to the corresponding fragment of BADH cDNA of several other plants, such as Kalidium foliatum, Atriplex centralasiatica, Atriplex hortensis, Spinacia oleracea, Suaeda liaotungensis, Beta vulgaris subsp. Vulgaris, Oryza sativa, etc. Encoded protein by HsBADH and BADH protein from above mentioned plants also shared 89% and 70% identity at the amino acid level. The result showed that BADH gene was conserved, especially in Chenopodiaceae and encoded functional protein may play an important role in high plants during salt stress. Real-time fluorescence quantitative gene expression analysis showed that the level of BADH mRNA in plants treated with different NaCl concentrations was higher than that in the control plants, suggesting that the accumulation of betaine catalyzed by betaine alde-hyde dehydrogenase as an effective osmolyte is important for H.strobilaceum(Pall.) Bieb. during salt stress. The study provided material for further exploring salt tolerant mechanisms of H.strobilaceum(Pall.) Bieb. in physiological and molecular aspects.

Key words: Halocnermum strobilaceum(Pall.) Bieb., betaine aldehydede dehydrogenase, gene cloning, expression analysis