Generation of plants with altered oil content
View Patent ↗The present invention is directed to plants that display an altered oil content phenotype due to altered expression of a citrate synthase nucleic acid. The invention is further directed to methods of generating plants with an altered oil content phenotype.
1. A transgenic plant comprising a plant transformation vector comprising a nucleotide sequence that encodes a citrate synthase polypeptide having at least 95% sequence identity with SEQ ID NO:2, wherein the transgenic plant over-expresses the citrate synthase polypeptide relative to a non-transgenic control plant, and whereby the transgenic plant has a high oil phenotype relative to the control plant.
2. The transgenic plant of claim 1 , which is selected from the group consisting of rapeseed, soy, corn, sunflower, cotton, cocoa, safflower, oil palm, coconut palm, flax, castor and peanut.
3. A plant part obtained from the plant according to claim 1 .
4. The plant part of claim 3 , which is a seed.
5. A method of producing oil comprising growing the transgenic plant of claim 1 and recovering oil from said plant.
6. A method of producing a high oil phenotype in a plant, said method comprising:
a) introducing into progenitor cells of the plant a plant transformation vector comprising a nucleotide sequence that encodes a citrate synthase polypeptide having at least 95% sequence identity with SEQ ID NO:2, and
b) growing the transformed progenitor cells to produce a transgenic plant, wherein said nucleotide sequence is over-expressed relative to a non-transgenic control plant, and said transgenic plant exhibits a high oil content phenotype relative to the control plant.
7. A plant obtained by the method of claim 6 .
8. The plant of claim 7 , which is selected from the group consisting of rapeseed, soy, corn, sunflower, cotton, cocoa, safflower, oil palm, coconut palm, flax, castor and peanut.