Transgenic plants with enhanced growth characteristics

A method for generating and selecting transgenic plants having increased production of 2-oxoglutaramate relative to an analogous wild type or untransformed plant of the same species, comprising:

• a. introducing a glutamine phenylpyruvate transaminase (GPT) transgene into a plurality of plant cells, wherein the GPT transgene encodes a GPT polypeptide having an amino acid sequence that has at least 85% sequence identity to SEP ID NO:
• 9 and GPT catalytic activity;
• b. introducing a glutamine synthetase (GS) transgene into the plurality of plant cells, wherein the GS transgene encodes a GS polypeptide having an amino acid sequence that has at least 85% sequence identity to SEP ID NO:
• 7 and GS catalytic activity;
• c. producing a plurality of transgenic plants from the plurality of plant cells, wherein the plurality of transgenic plants express the GPT transgene and the GS transgene;
• and
• d. selecting from the plurality of transgenic plants a transgenic plant having increased production of 2-oxoglutaramate relative to the analogous wild type or untransformed plant of the same species.

A method for producing a transgenic plant having increased biomass yield relative to an analogous wild type or untransformed plant of the same species, comprising:

• a. generating a first parental line by introducing a glutamine phenylpyruvate transaminase (GPT) transgene into a first plant, wherein the GPT transgene encodes a GPT polypeptide having an amino acid sequence that has at least 85% sequence identity to SEP ID NO:
• 9 and GPT catalytic activity;
• b. generating a second parental line by introducing a glutamine synthetase (GS) transgene into a second plant, wherein the GS transgene encodes a GS polypeptide having an amino acid sequence that has at least 85% sequence identity to SEP ID NO:
• 7 and GS catalytic activity;
• c. crossing the first parental line with the second parental line to generate a transgenic plant comprising the GPT transgene and the GS transgene;
• and
• d. expressing the GPT transgene and the GS transgene in the transgenic plant, whereby the transgenic plant has an increased biomass yield relative to the analogous wild type or untransformed plant of the same species.