Isolation and characterization of BADH2 gene from in vitro propagated <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pandanus amaryllifolius</Emphasis> Roxb

The 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (2AP) induced ‘basmati rice’ aroma is plausibly the highest among the plant kingdom in Pandanus amaryllifolius Roxb. The defective/truncated allelic forms of betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase (BADH2) gene is the major contributing factor behind the accumulation of this fragrance. The present study reports the isolation and characterization of the full-length BADH2 gene from P. amaryllifolius Roxb. The in silico analysis involving homology modelling and docking studies revealed the deficiency in catalytic efficiency of Pandanus BADH2 towards its substrate γ-aminobutyraldehyde (GAB-ald) as compared to the functional BADH2 gene of rice. We have also studied the tissue-specific expression of the BADH2 gene in different plant parts of in vivo donor and in vitro propagated P. amaryllifolius Roxb. In addition to the leaves, we are reporting histochemical localization of 2AP for the first time in the roots of P. amaryllifolius.