Drought tolerant plants and related constructs and methods involving genes encoding dtp21 polypeptides

A plant comprising in its genome a recombinant DNA construct comprising a polynucleotide operably linked to at least one heterologous regulatory element, wherein said polynucleotide comprises a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of:

• (a) a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide with drought tolerance activity, wherein the polypeptide has an amino acid sequence of at least 90% sequence identity, based on the Clustal V method of alignment with pairwise alignment default parameters of KTUPLE=1, GAP PENALTY=3, WINDOW=5 and DIAGONALS SAVED=5, when compared to SEQ ID NO:32;
• (b) a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide wherein the amino acid sequence of the polypeptide comprises SEQ ID NO:32;
• and
• (c) a nucleotide sequence comprising SEQ ID NO:31;
• and wherein said plant exhibits an increase in yield when compared to a control plant not comprising said recombinant DNA construct.

A method of increasing drought tolerance in a plant, comprising:

• (a) introducing into a regenerable plant cell a recombinant DNA construct comprising a polynucleotide operably linked to at least one heterologous regulatory element, wherein said polynucleotide comprises a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of:
• (i) a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide with drought tolerance activity, wherein the polypeptide has an amino acid sequence of at least 90% sequence identity, based on the Clustal V method of alignment with pairwise alignment default parameters of KTUPLE=1, GAP PENALTY=3, WINDOW=5 and DIAGONALS SAVED=5, when compared to SEQ ID NO:32;
• (ii) a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide wherein the amino acid sequence of the polypeptide comprises SEQ ID NO:32;
• and
• (iii) a nucleotide sequence comprising SEQ ID NO:31;
• and
• (b) regenerating a transgenic plant from the regenerable plant cell after step (a), wherein the transgenic plant comprises in its genome the recombinant DNA construct and exhibits increased drought tolerance when compared to a control plant not comprising the recombinant DNA construct.

A method of evaluating drought tolerance in a plant, comprising:

• (a) obtaining a transgenic plant, wherein the transgenic plant comprises in its genome a recombinant DNA construct comprising a polynucleotide operably linked to at least one heteroloqous regulatory element, wherein said polynucleotide comprises a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of:
• (i) a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide with drought tolerance activity, wherein the polypeptide has an amino acid sequence of at least 90% sequence identity, based on the Clustal V method of alignment with pairwise alignment default parameters of KTUPLE=1, GAP PENALTY=3, WINDOW=5 and DIAGONALS SAVED=5, when compared to SEQ ID NO:32;
• (ii) a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide wherein the amino acid sequence of the polypeptide comprises SEQ ID NO:32;
• and
• (iii) a nucleotide sequence comprising SEQ ID NO:31;
• and
• (b) obtaining a progeny plant derived from the transgenic plant of (a), wherein the progeny plant comprises in its genome the recombinant DNA construct;
• and
• (c) evaluating the progeny plant for drought tolerance compared to a control plant not comprising the recombinant DNA construct.

A method of determining an alteration of an agronomic characteristic in a plant, comprising:

• (a) obtaining a transgenic plant, wherein the transgenic plant comprises in its genome a recombinant DNA construct comprising a polynucleotide operably linked to at least one heterologous regulatory element, wherein said polynucleotide comprises a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of:
• (i) a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide with drought tolerance activity, wherein the polypeptide has an amino acid sequence of at least 90% sequence identity, based on the Clustal V method of alignment with pairwise alignment default parameters of KTUPLE=1, GAP PENALTY=3, WINDOW=5 and DIAGONALS SAVED=5, when compared to SEQ ID NO:32;
• (ii) a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide wherein the amino acid sequence of the polypeptide comprises SEQ ID NO:32;
• and
• (iii) a nucleotide sequence comprising SEQ ID NO:31;
• and
• (b) obtaining a progeny plant derived from the transgenic plant of step (a), wherein the progeny plant comprises in its genome the recombinant DNA construct;
• and
• (c) determining whether the progeny plant exhibits an alteration of at least one agronomic characteristic when compared to a control plant not comprising the recombinant DNA construct.