Impact of overexpressing NADH kinase on glucose and xylose metabolism in recombinant xylose-utilizing <Emphasis Type="Italic">Saccharomyces cerevisiae</Emphasis>

During growth of Saccharomyces cerevisiae on glucose, the redox cofactors NADH and NADPH are predominantly involved in catabolism and biosynthesis, respectively. A deviation from the optimal level of these cofactors often results in major changes in the substrate uptake and biomass formation. However, the metabolism of xylose by recombinant S. cerevisiae carrying xylose reductase and xylitol dehydrogenase from the fungal pathway requires both NADH and NADPH and creates cofactor imbalance during growth on xylose. As one possible solution to overcoming this imbalance, the effect of overexpressing the native NADH kinase (encoded by the POS5 gene) in xylose-consuming recombinant S. cerevisiae directed either into the cytosol or to the mitochondria was evaluated. The physiology of the NADH kinase containing strains was also evaluated during growth on glucose. Overexpressing NADH kinase in the cytosol redirected carbon flow from CO₂ to ethanol during aerobic growth on glucose and to ethanol and acetate during anaerobic growth on glucose. However, cytosolic NADH kinase has an opposite effect during anaerobic metabolism of xylose consumption by channeling carbon flow from ethanol to xylitol. In contrast, overexpressing NADH kinase in the mitochondria did not affect the physiology to a large extent. Overall, although NADH kinase did not increase the rate of xylose consumption, we believe that it can provide an important source of NADPH in yeast, which can be useful for metabolic engineering strategies where the redox fluxes are manipulated.     

Comparison of the Effects of NADH- and NADPH-Perturbation Stresses on the Growth of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Escherichia coli</Emphasis>

To better understand how the reducing power of either NADH or NADPH affects cell growth, Escherichia coli strains expressing either NADH-dependent or NADPH-dependent azoreductase (EC 1.6.5.2), which mediates the reduction of an azo dye, were cultured in glucose minimal medium in the presence of 200 μM methyl red. Growth rates in NADH-perturbed, NADPH-perturbed, and control cells were 0.05, 0.12, and 0.13 h⁻¹, respectively. In addition, glucose consumption in NADH-perturbed cells was 10.8 g glucose/g cell, while that of control and NADPH-perturbed cells was very similar (3.6 vs 3.8 g glucose/g cell) during the perturbation phase. Therefore, NADH perturbation had a larger effect than NADPH on cellular growth. Susie Kim, Doo-Bum Moon contributed equally to this article.     

过量表达苹果酸脱氢酶对大肠杆菌NZN111产丁二酸的影响

大肠杆菌NZN111是敲除了乳酸脱氢酶的编码基因 (ldhA) 和丙酮酸-甲酸裂解酶的编码基因 (pflB) 的工程菌,厌氧条件下由于辅酶NAD(H) 的不平衡导致其丧失了代谢葡萄糖的能力。构建了苹果酸脱氢酶的重组菌大肠杆菌NZN111/pTrc99a-mdh,在厌氧摇瓶发酵过程中通过0.3 mmol/L的IPTG诱导后重组菌的苹果酸脱氢酶 (Malate dehydrogenase,MDH) 酶活较出发菌株提高了14.8倍,NADH/NAD+的比例从0.64下降到0.26,同时NAD+和NADH浓度分别     

Synthetic lethal and biochemical analyses of NAD and NADH kinases in Saccharomyces cerevisiae establish separation of cellular functions

Production of NADP and NADPH depends on activity of NAD and NADH kinases. Here we characterized all combinations of mutants in yeast NAD and NADH kinases to determine their physiological roles. We constructed a diploid strain heterozygous for disruption of POS5, encoding mitochondrial NADH kinase, UTR1, cytosolic NAD kinase, and YEF1, a UTR1-homologous gene we characterized as encoding a low specific activity cytosolic NAD kinase. pos5 utr1 is a synthetic lethal combination rescued by plasmid-borne copies of the POS5 or UTR1 genes or by YEF1 driven by the ADH1 promoter. Respiratory-deficient and oxidative damage-sensitive defects in pos5 mutants were not made more deleterious by yef1 deletion, and a quantitative growth phenotype of pos5 and its arginine auxotrophy were repaired by plasmid-borne POS5 but not UTR1 or ADH1-driven YEF1. utr1 haploids have a slow growth phenotype on glucose not exacerbated by yef1 deletion but reversed by either plasmid-borne UTR1 or ADH1-driven YEF1. The defect in fermentative growth of utr1 mutants renders POS5 but not POS5-dependent mitochondrial genome maintenance essential because rho-utr1 derivatives are viable. Purified Yef1 has similar nucleoside triphosphate specificity but substantially lower specific activity and less discrimination in favor of NAD versus NADH phosphorylation than Utr1. Low expression and low intrinsic NAD kinase activity of Yef1 and the lack of phenotype associated with yef1 suggest that Utr1 and Pos5 are responsible for essentially all NAD/NADH kinase activity in vivo. The data are compatible with a model in which there is no exchange of NADP, NADPH, or cytoplasmic NAD/NADH kinase between nucleocytoplasmic and mitochondrial compartments, but the cytoplasm is exposed to mitochondrial NAD/NADH kinase during the transit of the molecule.     

Metabolic engineering of glycerol production in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Inactivation of TPI1, the Saccharomyces cerevisiae structural gene encoding triose phosphate isomerase, completely eliminates growth on glucose as the sole carbon source. In tpi1-null mutants, intracellular accumulation of dihydroxyacetone phosphate might be prevented if the cytosolic NADH generated in glycolysis by glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase were quantitatively used to reduce dihydroxyacetone phosphate to glycerol. We hypothesize that the growth defect of tpi1-null mutants is caused by mitochondrial reoxidation of cytosolic NADH, thus rendering it unavailable for dihydroxyacetone-phosphate reduction. To test this hypothesis, a tpi1delta nde1delta nde2delta gut2delta quadruple mutant was constructed. NDE1 and NDE2 encode isoenzymes of mitochondrial external NADH dehydrogenase; GUT2 encodes a key enzyme of the glycerol-3-phosphate shuttle. It has recently been demonstrated that these two systems are primarily responsible for mitochondrial oxidation of cytosolic NADH in S. cerevisiae. Consistent with the hypothesis, the quadruple mutant grew on glucose as the sole carbon source. The growth on glucose, which was accompanied by glycerol production, was inhibited at high-glucose concentrations. This inhibition was attributed to glucose repression of respiratory enzymes as, in the quadruple mutant, respiratory pyruvate dissimilation is essential for ATP synthesis and growth. Serial transfer of the quadruple mutant on high-glucose media yielded a spontaneous mutant with much higher specific growth rates in high-glucose media (up to 0.10 h(-1) at 100 g of glucose. liter(-1)). In aerated batch cultures grown on 400 g of glucose. liter(-1), this engineered S. cerevisiae strain produced over 200 g of glycerol. liter(-1), corresponding to a molar yield of glycerol on glucose close to unity.     

强化类球红细菌辅因子NADPH再生以提高法尼醇的产量

法尼醇(Farnesol,FOH)是由焦磷酸异戊烯基(IPP)和焦磷酸二甲基烯丙基(DMAPP)合成的法尼酰基焦磷酸盐(FPP)去焦磷酸化作用生成的。在类球红细菌中IPP和DMAPP是由MEP途径生成,而完整的MEP途径需要消耗大量的辅因子NADPH,增加胞内NADPH的量有可能强化FOH的合成。文中从增加NADPH的生成和降低NADPH的消耗这两个策略出发,分别干扰了编码6-磷酸葡萄糖异构酶基因(pgi)和谷氨酸脱氢酶基因(gdhA)的表达,同时强化了磷酸戊糖途径中6-葡萄糖磷酸脱氢酶基因(zwf)和6-葡萄糖酸磷酸脱氢酶基因(gnd)的表达。实验结果表明,经改造的菌株NADPH含量显著增加,干扰菌株中菌株RSpgii的产量较高,为3.91 mg/g,在过表达的菌株中同时过表达zwf和gnd基因的重组菌株(RSzg)的FOH产量提高到了3.43 mg/g。为了获得FOH产量更高的菌株,以RSpgii为出发菌株,分别与zwf和gnd组合调控,获得的菌株RSzgpi的产量达到了最高量为4.48 mg/g,是出发菌株RS-GY2产率的2.24倍。     

Production of 3-hydroxypropionic acid via malonyl-CoA pathway using recombinant Escherichia coli strains

Malonyl-CoA is an intermediary compound that is produced during fatty acid metabolism. Our study aimed to produce the commercially important platform chemical 3-hydroxypropionic acid (3-HP) from its immediate precursor malonyl-CoA by recombinant Escherichia coli strains heterologously expressing the mcr gene of Chloroflexus aurantiacus DSM 635, encoding an NADPH-dependent malonyl-CoA reductase (MCR). The recombinant E. coli overexpressing mcr under the T5 promoter showed MCR activity of 0.015 U mg?1 protein in crude cell extract and produced 0.71 mmol/L of 3-HP in 24h in shake flask cultivation under aerobic conditions with glucose as the sole source of carbon. When acetyl-CoA carboxylase and biotinilase, encoded by the genes accADBCb (ACC) of E. coli K-12 were overexpressed along with MCR, the final 3-HP titer improved by 2-fold, which is 1.6 mM. Additional expression of the gene pntAB, encoding nicotinamide nucleotide transhydrogenase that converts NADH to NADPH, increased 3-HP production to 2.14 mM. The strain was further developed by deleting the sucAB gene, encoding α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase complex in tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, or blocking lactate and acetate production pathways, and evaluated for the production of 3-HP. We report on the feasibility of producing 3-HP from glucose through the malonyl-CoA pathway.     

Optimization of 1,2,4‐butanetriol production from xylose in Saccharomyces cerevisiae by metabolic engineering of NADH/NADPH balance

1,2,4‐Butanetriol (BT) is used as a precursor for the synthesis of various pharmaceuticals and the energetic plasticizer 1,2,4‐butanetriol trinitrate. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, BT is biosynthesized from xylose via heterologous four enzymatic reactions catalyzed by xylose dehydrogenase, xylonate dehydratase, 2‐ketoacid decarboxylase, and alcohol dehydrogenase. We here aimed to improve the BT yield in S. cerevisiae by genetic engineering. First, the amount of the key intermediate 2‐keto‐3‐deoxy‐xylonate as described previously was successfully reduced in 41% by multiple integrations of Lactococcus lactis 2‐ketoacid decarboxylase gene kdcA into the yeast genome. Since the heterologous BT synthetic pathway is independent of yeast native metabolism, this manipulation has led to NADH/NADPH imbalance and deficiency during BT production. Overexpression of the NADH kinase POS5Δ17 lacking the mitochondrial targeting sequence to relieve NADH/NADPH imbalance resulted in the BT titer of 2.2 g/L (31% molar yield). Feeding low concentrations of glucose and xylose to support the supply of NADH resulted in BT titer of 6.6 g/L with (57% molar yield). Collectively, improving the NADH/NADPH ratio and supply from glucose are essential for the construction of a xylose pathway, such as the BT synthetic pathway, independent of native yeast metabolism.     

Model-Driven Redox Pathway Manipulation for Improved Isobutanol Production in Bacillus subtilis Complemented with Experimental Validation and Metabolic Profiling Analysis

To rationally guide the improvement of isobutanol production, metabolic network and metabolic profiling analysis were performed to provide global and profound insights into cell metabolism of isobutanol-producing Bacillus subtilis. The metabolic flux distribution of strains with different isobutanol production capacity (BSUL03, BSUL04 and BSUL05) drops a hint of the importance of NADPH on isobutanol biosynthesis. Therefore, the redox pathways were redesigned in this study. To increase NADPH concentration, glucose-6-phosphate isomerase was inactivated (BSUL06) and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase was overexpressed (BSUL07) successively. As expected, NADPH pool size in BSUL07 was 4.4-fold higher than that in parental strain BSUL05. However, cell growth, isobutanol yield and production were decreased by 46%, 22%, and 80%, respectively. Metabolic profiling analysis suggested that the severely imbalanced redox status might be the primary reason. To solve this problem, gene udhA of Escherichia coli encoding transhydrogenase was further overexpressed (BSUL08), which not only well balanced the cellular ratio of NAD(P)H/NAD(P)⁺, but also increased NADH and ATP concentration. In addition, a straightforward engineering approach for improving NADPH concentrations was employed in BSUL05 by overexpressing exogenous gene pntAB and obtained BSUL09. The performance for isobutanol production by BSUL09 was poorer than BSUL08 but better than other engineered strains. Furthermore, in fed-batch fermentation the isobutanol production and yield of BSUL08 increased by 11% and 19%, up to the value of 6.12 g/L and 0.37 C-mol isobutanol/C-mol glucose (63% of the theoretical value), respectively, compared with parental strain BSUL05. These results demonstrated that model-driven complemented with metabolic profiling analysis could serve as a useful approach in the strain improvement for higher bio-productivity in further application.     

Metabolic engineering of a xylose-isomerase-expressing Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain for rapid anaerobic xylose fermentation

After an extensive selection procedure, Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains that express the xylose isomerase gene from the fungus Piromyces sp. E2 can grow anaerobically on xylose with a mu(max) of 0.03 h(-1). In order to investigate whether reactions downstream of the isomerase control the rate of xylose consumption, we overexpressed structural genes for all enzymes involved in the conversion of xylulose to glycolytic intermediates, in a xylose-isomerase-expressing S. cerevisiae strain. The overexpressed enzymes were xylulokinase (EC 2.7.1.17), ribulose 5-phosphate isomerase (EC 5.3.1.6), ribulose 5-phosphate epimerase (EC 5.3.1.1), transketolase (EC 2.2.1.1) and transaldolase (EC 2.2.1.2). In addition, the GRE3 gene encoding aldose reductase was deleted to further minimise xylitol production. Surprisingly the resulting strain grew anaerobically on xylose in synthetic media with a mu(max) as high as 0.09 h(-1) without any non-defined mutagenesis or selection. During growth on xylose, xylulose formation was absent and xylitol production was negligible. The specific xylose consumption rate in anaerobic xylose cultures was 1.1 g xylose (g biomass)(-1) h(-1). Mixtures of glucose and xylose were sequentially but completely consumed by anaerobic batch cultures, with glucose as the preferred substrate.     

Improved NADPH supply for xylitol production by engineered Escherichia coli with glycolytic mutations

Escherichia coli engineered to uptake xylose while metabolizing glucose was previously shown to produce high levels of xylitol from a mixture of glucose and xylose when expressing NADPH-dependent xylose reductase from Candida boidinii (CbXR) (Cirino et al., Biotechnol Bioeng. 2006;95:1167-1176). We then described the effects of deletions of key metabolic pathways (e.g., Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas and pentose phosphate pathway) and reactions (e.g., transhydrogenase and NADH dehydrogenase) on resting-cell xylitol yield (Y RPG: moles of xylitol produced per mole of glucose consumed) (Chin et al., Biotechnol Bioeng. 2009;102:209-220). These prior results demonstrated the importance of direct NADPH supply by NADP+-utilizing enzymes in central metabolism for driving heterologous NADPH-dependent reactions. This study describes strain modifications that improve coupling between glucose catabolism (oxidation) and xylose reduction using two fundamentally different strategies. We first examined the effects of deleting the phosphofructokinase (pfk) gene(s) on growth-uncoupled xylitol production and found that deleting both pfkA and sthA (encoding the E. coli-soluble transhydrogenase) improved the xylitol Y RPG from 3.4 ± 0.6 to 5.4 ± 0.4. The second strategy focused on coupling aerobic growth on glucose to xylitol production by deleting pgi (encoding phosphoglucose isomerase) and sthA. Impaired growth due to imbalanced NADPH metabolism (Sauer et al., J Biol Chem. 2004;279:6613-6619) was alleviated upon expressing CbXR, resulting in xylitol production similar to that of the growth-uncoupled precursor strains but with much less acetate secretion and more efficient utilization of glucose. Intracellular nicotinamide cofactor levels were also quantified, and the magnitude of the change in the NADPH/NADP+ ratio measured from cells consuming glucose in the absence vs. presence of xylose showed a strong correlation to the resulting Y RPG.     

过量表达烟酸单核苷酸腺苷酰转移酶对大肠杆菌NZN111产丁二酸的影响

大肠杆菌NZN111是敲除了乳酸脱氢酶的编码基因(ldhA)和丙酮酸-甲酸裂解酶的编码基因(pflB)的发酵生产丁二酸的潜力菌株。厌氧条件下NADH不能及时再生为NAD+,引起胞内辅酶NAD(H)的不平衡,最终导致厌氧条件下菌株不能利用葡萄糖生长代谢。nadD为催化NAD(H)合成途径中烟酸单核苷酸(NaMN)生成烟酸腺嘌呤二核苷酸(NaAD)的烟酸单核苷酸腺苷酰转移酶(Nicotinic acid mononucleotide adenylyltransferase,NAMNAT)的编码基因,通过过量表达nadD基因能够提高NAD(H)总量与维持合适的NADH/NAD+比例。文中构建了重组菌E.coli NZN111/pTrc99a-nadD,在厌氧摇瓶发酵过程中通过添加终浓度为1.0 mmol/L的IPTG诱导表达,重组菌E.coli NZN111/pTrc99a-nadD中NAD+和NADH的浓度分别比宿主菌E.coli NZN111提高了3.21倍和1.67倍,NAD(H)总量提高了2.63倍,NADH/NAD+从0.64降低为0.41,使重组菌株恢复了厌氧条件下生长和代谢葡萄糖的能力。重组菌与对照菌相比,72 h内可以消耗14.0 g/L的葡萄糖产6.23 g/L的丁二酸,丁二酸产量增加了19倍。     

Comparative metabolic network analysis of two xylose fermenting recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains

The recombinant xylose fermenting strain Saccharomyces cerevisiae TMB3001 can grow on xylose, but the xylose utilisation rate is low. One important reason for the inefficient fermentation of xylose to ethanol is believed to be the imbalance of redox co-factors. In the present study, a metabolic flux model was constructed for two recombinant S. cerevisiae strains: TMB3001 and CPB.CR4 which in addition to xylose metabolism have a modulated redox metabolism, i.e. ammonia assimilation was shifted from being NADPH to NADH dependent by deletion of gdh1 and over-expression of GDH2. The intracellular fluxes were estimated for both strains in anaerobic continuous cultivations when the growth limiting feed consisted of glucose (2.5 g L-1) and xylose (13 g L-1). The metabolic network analysis with 13C labelled glucose showed that there was a shift in the specific xylose reductase activity towards use of NADH as co-factor rather than NADPH. This shift is beneficial for solving the redox imbalance and it can therefore partly explain the 25% increase in the ethanol yield observed for CPB.CR4. Furthermore, the analysis indicated that the glyoxylate cycle was activated in CPB.CR4.     

Physiological characterisation of recombinant Aspergillus nidulans strains with different creA genotypes expressing A. oryzae alpha-amylase.

The physiology of three strains of Aspergillus nidulans was examined--a creA deletion strain, a wild type creA genotype and a strain containing extra copies of the creA gene, all producing Aspergillus oryzae alpha-amylase. The strains were cultured in batch and continuous cultivations and the biomass formation and alpha-amylase production was characterised. Overexpression of the creA gene resulted in a lower maximum specific growth rate and a slightly higher repression of the alpha-amylase production during conditions with high glucose concentration. No expression of creA also resulted in a decreased maximum specific growth rate, but also in drastic changes in morphology. Furthermore, the expression of alpha-amylase was completely derepressed and creA thus seems to be the only regulatory protein responsible for glucose repression of alpha-amylase expression. The effect of different carbon sources on the alpha-amylase production in the creA deletion strain was investigated and it was found that starch was the best inducer. The degree of induction by starch increased almost linearly with the concentration of starch in starch/glucose mixtures. High-density batch cultivation was performed with the creA deletion strain and a final titre of 6.0 g l(-1) of alpha-amylase was reached after 162 h of cultivation.     

Aerobic physiology of redox-engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains modified in the ammonium assimilation for increased NADPH availability

Recombinant strains altered in the ammonium assimilation pathways were constructed with the purpose of increasing NADPH availability. The NADPH-dependent glutamate dehydrogenase encoded by GDH1, which accounts for a major fraction of the NADPH consumption during growth on ammonium, was deleted, and alternative pathways for ammonium assimilation were overexpressed: GDH2 (NADH-consuming) or GLN1 and GLT1 (the GS-GOGAT system). The flux through the pentose phosphate pathway during aerobic growth on glucose decreased to about half that of the reference strain Saccharomyces cerevisiae CEN.PK113-7D, indicating a major redox alteration in the strains. The basic growth characteristics of the recombinant strains were not affected to a great extent, but the dilution rate at which the onset of aerobic fermentation occurred decreased, suggesting a relation between the onset of the Crabtree effect and the flux through the Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas pathway downstream of glucose 6-phosphate. No redox effect was observed in a strain containing a deletion of GLR1, encoding glutathione reductase, an enzyme that is NADPH-consuming.     

Physiological characterization of glucose repression in the strains with SNF1 and SNF4 genes deleted

We investigated the effect of Snf1 kinase and its regulatory subunit Snf4 on the regulation of glucose and galactose metabolism in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae by physiologically characterizing Deltasnf1, Deltasnf4 and Deltasnf1Deltasnf4 in CEN.PK background in glucose and glucose-galactose-mixture batch cultivations. The main result of this study showed that delayed induction of galactose catabolism was SNF1 or SNF4 gene deletion specific. In comparison to the reference strain, growth delay on galactose was found to last 2.4 times (7 h), 3.1 times (10.5 h) and 9.6 times (43 h) longer for the Deltasnf4, Deltasnf1 and Deltasnf1Deltasnf4 strains, respectively. The maximum specific growth rates on galactose were determined to be two to three times lower for the recombinant strains compared to the reference strain (0.13 h(-1)) and were found to be 0.07, 0.08 and 0.04 h(-1) for the Deltasnf1, Deltasnf4 and Deltasnf1Deltasnf4 strains, respectively. The study showed that Snf1 kinase was not solely responsible for the derepression of galactose metabolism.     

Biochemical and Structural Studies of NADH-Dependent FabG Used To Increase the Bacterial Production of Fatty Acids under Anaerobic Conditions

Major efforts in bioenergy research have focused on producing fuels that can directly replace petroleum-derived gasoline and diesel fuel through metabolic engineering of microbial fatty acid biosynthetic pathways. Typically, growth and pathway induction are conducted under aerobic conditions, but for operational efficiency in an industrial context, anaerobic culture conditions would be preferred to obviate the need to maintain specific dissolved oxygen concentrations and to maximize the proportion of reducing equivalents directed to biofuel biosynthesis rather than ATP production. A major concern with fermentative growth conditions is elevated NADH levels, which can adversely affect cell physiology. The purpose of this study was to identify homologs of Escherichia coli FabG, an essential reductase involved in fatty acid biosynthesis, that display a higher preference for NADH than for NADPH as a cofactor. Four potential NADH-dependent FabG variants were identified through bioinformatic analyses supported by crystallographic structure determination (1.3- to 2.0-Å resolution). In vitro assays of cofactor (NADH/NADPH) preference in the four variants showed up to ∼35-fold preference for NADH, which was observed with the Cupriavidus taiwanensis FabG variant. In addition, FabG homologs were overexpressed in fatty acid- and methyl ketone-overproducing E. coli host strains under anaerobic conditions, and the C. taiwanensis variant led to a 60% higher free fatty acid titer and 75% higher methyl ketone titer relative to the titers of the control strains. With further engineering, this work could serve as a starting point for establishing a microbial host strain for production of fatty acid-derived biofuels (e.g., methyl ketones) under anaerobic conditions.     

NADK3, a novel cytoplasmic source of NADPH, is required under conditions of oxidative stress and modulates abscisic acid responses in Arabidopsis

In plants, excess reactive oxygen species are toxic molecules induced under environmental stresses, including pathogen invasions and abiotic stresses. Many anti-oxidant defense systems have been reported to require NADPH as an important reducing energy equivalent. However, the sources of NADPH and the molecular mechanisms of maintaining cytoplasmic redox balance are unclear. Here, we report the biological function of a putative cytoplasmic NADH kinase (NADK3) in several abiotic stress responses in Arabidopsis. We found that cytoplasmic NADPH is provided mostly by the product of the NADK3 gene in Arabidopsis. Expression of he NADK3 gene is responsive to abscisic acid (ABA) and abiotic stress conditions, including methyl violgen (MV), high salinity and osmotic shock. An NADK3 null mutant showed hypersensitivity to oxidative stress in both seed germination and seedling growth. Seed germination of the mutant plants also showed increased sensitivity to ABA, salt and mannitol. Furthermore, stress-related target genes were identified as upregulated in the mutant by mannitol and MV. Our study indicates that this cytoplasmic NADH kinase, a key source of the cellular reductant NADPH, is required for various abiotic stress responses.