Gene controlling floral development and apical dominance in plants
AssigneeWashington State University Research Foundation
InventorGynheung An
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Abstract
The present invention provides compositions and methods for affecting the transition from vegetative to reproductive growth in a wide variety of plants. A MADS-box gene from rice, OsMADS1, has been isolated and sequenced. Expression of OsMADS1 in transgenic plants dramatically alters development, resulting in early flowering plants with reduced apical dominance, causing both long-day and short-day plants to flower under both short-day and long-day conditions. OsMADS1 is a key regulatory factor determining the transition from shoot apex to floral meristem and is a target for action of flower induction signals.
Claims29
An isolated nucleic acid comprising a sequence selected from the group consisting of:
- (a) an allele of OSMADS1;
- and
- (b) a sequence of at least 100 consecutive nucleotides having at least 70% nucleotide sequence similarity with SEQ ID NO:1, not including MADS-box and K-box regions thereof, said sequence, when expressed in a transgenic plant, producing at least one phenotype in the transgenic plant selected from the group consisting of:
- (i) altered daylength requirement for flowering;
- (ii) greater synchronization of flowering;
- and (iii) a relaxed vernalization requirement.
A transgenic plant of a long-day or short-day species having a substantially relaxed daylength requirement for flowering compared to a nontransgenic control plant, the transgenic plant comprising a recombinant nucleic acid that comprises a sequence of at least 100 consecutive nucleotides having at least 70% nucleotide sequence similarity with SEQ ID NO:1, not including MADS-1 box and K-box regions of SEQ ID NO:1, wherein said relaxed daylength requirement results from expression of the sequence.
An isolated nucleic acid comprising a sequence selected from the group consisting of:
- (a) a NtMADS3 polypeptide-coding region;
- (b) a NtMADS3 MADS-box sequence;
- and
- (c) a NtMADS3 K-box sequence.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.