Combinations of genes for producing seed plants exhibiting modulated reproductive development
View Patent ↗The present invention provides plants that exhibit modulated reproductive development and methods of modulating the timing of reproductive development in plants.
1. A non-naturally occurring seed plant, the plant comprising: a first ectopically expressed polynucleotide encoding an APETALA1 gene product exhibiting at least 90% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:2 and having transcriptional activation activity; and a second ectopically expressed nucleic acid molecule encoding SEPALLATA1 (SEP1) gene product exhibiting at least 90% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:28 and having transcriptional activation activity, wherein the plant is characterized by early reproductive development compared to a plant lacking the first and second ectopically expressed polynucleotides.
2. The non-naturally occurring seed plant of claim 1 , wherein expression of the first ectopically expressed polynucleotide is increased in a tissue of a plant compared to a wild type plant.
3. The non-naturally occurring seed plant of claim 1 , wherein expression of the second ectopically expressed polynucleotide is increased in a tissue of a plant compared to a wild type plant.
4. The non-naturally occurring seed plant of claim 1 , wherein the non-naturally occurring seed plant is a transgenic plant comprising a first exogenous gene regulatory element operably linked to the first ectopically expressible polynucleotide and a second exogenous gene regulatory element operably linked to the second ectopically expressible polynucleotide.
5. The non-naturally occurring seed plant of claim 1 , wherein the first ectopically expressed polynucleotide encodes SEQ ID NO:2.
6. The non-naturally occurring seed plant of claim 1 , wherein the second ectopically expressed polynucleotide encodes a SEP1 gene product comprising SEQ ID NO:28.
7. A method of decreasing the time period to the initiation of reproductive development in a plant, the method comprising, ectopically expressing a first polynucleotide encoding an APETALA1 gene product exhibiting at least 90% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:2 and having transcriptional activation activity and ectopically expressing a second nucleic acid molecule encoding a SEPALLATA1 gene product exhibiting at least 90% sequence identity to SEQ lID NO:28 and having transcriptional activation activity, thereby producing a plant with a decreased time period to the initiation of reproductive development compared to a plant lacking the first and second ectopically expressed polynucleotides.
8. The method of claim 7 comprising, introducing a first ectopically expressed nucleic acid molecule comprising a first polynucleotide encoding SEQ ID NO:2; and introducing a second ectopically expressed nucleic acid molecule comprising a second polynucleotide encoding SEQ ID NO:28.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the first and second ectopically expressed nucleic acid molecules each comprise a gene regulatory element operably linked to the first and second polynucleotides.
10. The method of claim 8 , wherein expression of the first ectopically expressed polynucleotide is increased in a tissue of the plant compared to a wildtype plant.
11. The method of claim 8 , wherein expression of the second ectopically expressed polynucleotide is increased in a tissue of the plant compared to a wildtype plant.
12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the gene regulatory element is constitutive.
13. The method of claim 9 , wherein the gene regulatory element is inducible.
14. The method of claim 9 , wherein the gene regulatory element is tissue-specific.
15. The method of claim 7 , wherein the first ectopically expressed polynucleotide encodes SEQ ID NO:2.
16. The method of claim 7 , wherein the second ectopically expressed polynucleotide is a SEPALLATA1 gene product comprising SEQ ID NO:28.