Methods for altering the rate of plant development and plants obtained therefrom
AssigneeYale University
InventorsStephen L. Dellaporta, Jychian Chen
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Abstract
The present invention is based on the unexpected observation that DNA methylation, particularly at cytosine residues, regulates the rate of development of a plant. Based on this observation, the present invention provides methods of increasing or decreasing the rate of development of a plant by either increasing or decreasing the amount of methylated DNA found in the plant. The present invention further provides plants that have been altered such that their rate of maturation is either increased or decreased relative to the rate of maturation of a non-altered plant.
Claims13
A method of increasing the rate of maturation in a plant comprising the step of genetically altering said plant using molecular techniques to introduce into said plant one or more DNA methyltransferase encoding genes so that said plant has an increased amount of methylated cytosine when compared to a non-altered plant sufficient to increase the rate of maturation of said plant.
A method to decrease the generation times in a plant breeding program comprising the step of growing one or more parent strains that have been genetically altered using molecular techniques to introduce into said plant one or more DNA methyltransferase encoding genes so that said parent strains have an increased amount of methylated cytosine when compared to a non-altered plant sufficient to cause said parent strain to mature at a faster rate than said non-altered plant.
A method to select a plant that has an increased rate of development comprising the step of selecting a plant having an increased amount of methylated cytosine when compared to a non-altered plant sufficient to increase the rate of maturation of said plant.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.