Compositions and methods for increasing plant tolerance to high population density
US7868224B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignees
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 7, 2007 |
| Grant date | Jan 11, 2011 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Apr 18, 2029 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY02A40/146
- WIPO fieldBiotechnology
- WIPO sectorChemistry
Abstract
Compositions and methods for suppressing the shade-avoidance response of plants and improving plant yield are provided. Compositions of the invention include an early flowering 3 (ELF3) maize gene, the promoter for this gene, an Arabidopsis basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor (bHLH-041), and fragments and variants thereof. The ELF3 promoter sequence is useful for driving expression of polynucleotides of interest in a plant. The ELF3 and bHLH-041 sequences of the invention, or variants and fragments thereof, are provided in expression cassettes for use in manipulating expression of the ELF3 and bHLH-041 genes. By increasing expression of ELF3 and/or suppressing expression of bHLH-041, the methods of the invention provide for altered response of a plant to light quality and suppression of the high-density-invoked survival mode of development. The invention thus provides methods for growing crop plants at high population densities for yield enhancement. Transformed plants having the altered shade-avoidance phenotype of the invention, and seeds of said plants, are also provided.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.