Fig. 3.   The growth curves of E. coli transformed with E. halochloris GSMT and SDMT genes. The cells were grown in MM63 medium containing 5 g/liter glucose as the sole carbon source. White circles indicate pQE-60 vector control, and black circles indicate pQE-60_GSMT+SDMT. The cultivations were performed in duplicate. A, the transformant expressing the genes was capable of growing to a higher cell density in the presence of 0.3 M NaCl. In addition the apparent growth rate was higher (roughly 50%). The intracellular betaine concentration was 78 µmol/g cell dry weight. B, there was no significant difference in growth in medium lacking NaCl. The intracellular betaine concentration was 31 µmol/g cell dry weight. No betaine was detected in the control.