IS THERE A ROLE FOR GLYCINE BETAINE IN CUTTING PROPAGATION?^©

Glycine betaine (GB) is a compound naturally synthesised by some higher plants in response to abiotic stresses. Its role when produced in these plants is an osmoprotectant, helping protect cells, proteins, and enzymes from stress due to drought, salinity, heat, and freezing temperatures. In addition, GB has been proven to protect the Photosystem II complex in some plants under various abiotic stress situations (Papageorgiou and Murata, 1995; Murata et al., 1992). Glycine betaine is synthesised in the chloroplasts, and research has proven it to be a nontoxic, non-perturbing, very water-soluble, and electrically neutral compound with a molecular weight of 117.15 g·mol-1 (Sakamoto and Murata, 2002). A plant’s natural ability to synthesise GB isn’t defined by its membership in a particular taxonomic group, these plants are spread over a number of plant families. In addition, a small number of plants, including sugar beet, wheat, and spinach, are known to be natural GB accumulators (Bohnert et al., 1996). It is only relatively recently that the chemical pathway for the synthesis of GB in higher plants has been confirmed, but the exact way in which it protects the plant from abiotic stresses is still unknown.