Abstract: According to the published sequences of BADH cDNA of several other plants of Chenopodiaceae, two primers have been designed to amplify the fragment of BADH cDNA from Kalidium foliatum through RT-PCR ( reverse transcription
polymerase chain reaction). A 1503 bp fragment containing entire betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase ( BADH) coding region of 500 amino acids ( aa ) has been obtained. Nucleotide sequence of KfBADH was similar to the corresponding fragment of BADH cDNA of several other plants, such as Atriplex centralasiatica, Atriplex hortensis, Spinacia oleracea, Suaeda liaotungensis, Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris, Oryza sativa and so on. Encoded protein by KfBADH and BADH protein from above mentioned plants also shared 71% identity at the amino acid level. The result showed BADH gene was conserved, especially in Chenopodiaceae and encoded functional protein may play an important role in high plants during salt stress. Semi-quantitative gene expression analysis showed that the level of BADH mRNA in plants treated with different NaCl concentration is 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 Kalidium foliatum during salt stress. The study provided material for further exploring salt tolerant mechanisms of Kalidium foliatum in physiological and molecular aspects.

Key words: Kalidium foliatum