Methods and compositions for modulating flowering and maturity in plants

A method for altering flowering time in a plant comprising:

• transforming a plant cell with a nucleic acid molecule operably linked to a promoter that regulates transcription of said sequence in a plant cell;
• wherein said nucleic acid molecule comprises a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of:
• (a) a nucleotide sequence comprising the sequence set forth in SEQ ID NOS:
• 1, 3, or 4;
• (b) a nucleotide sequence encoding the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:2;
• (c) a nucleotide sequence having at least 80% sequence identity to the sequence of SEQ ID NOS:
• 1, 3, or 4, wherein said nucleotide sequence encodes a protein which regulates flowering in plants.

A method for altering maturity of a plant, said method comprising:

• transforming said plant with a nucleic acid molecule comprising a heterologous sequence operably linked to a promoter that induces transcription of said heterologous sequence in a plant cell;
• and
• regenerating stably transformed plants, wherein said heterologous sequence comprises a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of:
• (a) a nucleotide sequence comprising the sequence set forth in SEQ ID NOS:
• 1, 3 or 4;
• (b) a nucleotide sequence comprising at least 50 contiguous nucleotides of the sequence of SEQ ID NOS:
• 1, 3, or 4, wherein said nucleotide sequence encodes a protein flowering regulatory activity;
• and
• (c) a nucleotide sequence having at least 80% sequence identity to the sequence of SEQ ID NOS:
• 1, 3, or 4.

An isolated polypeptide having flowering regulatory activity and selected from the group consisting of:

• (a) a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NOS:
• 2;
• (b) a polypeptide encoded by a nucleotide sequence comprising the sequence set forth in SEQ ID NOS:
• 1, 3, or 4;
• (c) a polypeptide encoded by a nucleotide sequence that has at least 80% sequence identity to the sequence set forth in SEQ ID NOS:
• 1, 3, or 4.
• (d) a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence having at least 90% sequence identity to the sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:2;
• and
• (e) a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence of at least 30 consecutive amino acids of any of (a) through (d).

An isolated nucleic acid molecule that encodes a regulatory element having regulatory activity for flowering time, said nucleic acid molecule being selected from the group consisting of:

• (a) a nucleic acid molecule comprising the sequence set forth in SEQ ID NOS:
• 5, 6, 7, or 8;
• (b) a nucleic acid molecule comprising a sequence having at least 80% sequence identity to the nucleotide sequence set forth in SEQ ID NOS:
• 5, 6, 7, or 8;
• and
• (c) a nucleic acid molecule comprising a sequence of at least 50 consecutive nucleic acids of any of (a) through (c).

A method for changing maturity of a plant, said method comprising:

• stably introducing into the genome of a plant, at least one nucleotide construct comprising a nucleic acid molecule operably linked to a heterologous promoter that drives transcription in a plant cell, wherein said nucleic acid molecule encodes a regulatory element having regulatory activity on flowering time and is selected from the group consisting of:
• (a) a nucleic acid molecule comprising the sequence set forth in SEQ ID NOS:
• 5, 6, 7, or 8;
• (b) a nucleic acid molecule comprising a sequence having at least 80% sequence identity to the nucleotide sequence set forth in SEQ ID NOS:
• 5, 6, 7, or 8;
• and
• (c) a nucleic acid molecule comprising a sequence of at least 50 consecutive nucleic acids of any of (a) through (c).