Plant cells and plants with increased tolerance and/or resistance to environmental stress and increased biomass production-ko

A method for producing a transgenic plant with increased tolerance and/or resistance to environmental stress and increased biomass production as compared to a corresponding non-transformed wild type plant, which comprises:

• a) reducing, repressing, or deleting the activity of
• (i) a polypeptide comprising a polypeptide, a consensus sequence or at least one polypeptide motif as depicted in column 5 or 7 of Table II or of Table IV, respectively;
• or
• (ii) an expression product of a nucleic acid molecule comprising a polynucleotide as depicted in column 5 or 7 of Table I,
• (iii) or a functional equivalent of (i) or (ii);
• in a plant cell, a plant or a part thereof, and
• b) generating a transformed plant with increased tolerance and/or resistance to environmental stress and increased biomass production as compared to a corresponding non-transformed wild type plant and growing under conditions which permit the development of the plant.

An isolated nucleic acid molecule which comprises a nucleic acid molecule selected from the group consisting of:

• a) a nucleic acid molecule which encodes a polypeptide comprising the polypeptide shown in column 5 or 7 of Table IIB;
• b) a nucleic acid molecule which comprising a polynucleotide shown in column 5 or 7 of Table IB;
• c) a nucleic acid molecule comprising a nucleic acid sequence, which, as a result of the degeneracy of the genetic code, can be derived from a polypeptide sequence depicted in column 5 or 7 of Table IIB and having the activity represented by the protein depicted in column 5 of Table II;
• d) a nucleic acid molecule encoding a polypeptide having at least 50% identity with the amino acid sequence of a polypeptide encoded by the nucleic acid molecule of (a) or (c) and having the activity represented by the protein depicted in column 5 of Table II;
• e) a nucleic acid molecule encoding a polypeptide, which is isolated with the aid of monoclonal antibodies against a polypeptide encoded by one of the nucleic acid molecules of (a) to (c) and having the activity represented by the protein depicted in column 5 of Table II;
• f) a nucleic acid molecule encoding a polypeptide comprising the consensus sequence or a polypeptide motif shown in column 7 of Table IV and having the biological activity represented by the protein depicted in column 5 of Table II;
• g) a nucleic acid molecule encoding a polypeptide having the activity represented by a protein as depicted in column 5 of Table II;
• h) a nucleic acid molecule which comprises a polynucleotide, which is obtained by amplifying a cDNA library or a genomic library using the primers in column 7 of Table III which do not start at their 5′-end with the nucleotides ATA;
• and
• i) a nucleic acid molecule which is obtainable by screening a suitable library under stringent hybridization conditions with a probe comprising one of the sequences of the nucleic acid molecule of (a) to (c) or with a fragment of at least 17 nt of the nucleic acid molecule characterized in any one of (a) to (h) and encoding a polypeptide having the activity represented by the protein depicted in column 5 of Table II;
• or which comprises a sequence which is complementary thereto;
• whereby the nucleic acid molecule according to (a) to (i) is at least in one or more nucleotides different from the sequence depicted in column 5 or 7 of Table IA and which encodes a protein which differs at least in one or more amino acids from the protein sequences depicted in column 5 or 7 of Table IIA.