GENERATION OF PLANTS WITH IMPROVED PATHOGEN RESISTANCE
The present invention is directed to plants that display a pathogen resistance phenotype due to altered expression of a PPR1 nucleic acid. The invention is further directed to methods of generating plants with a pathogen resistance phenotype.
1 . A method of producing increased pathogen resistance in a plant, said method comprising:
introducing into progenitor cells of the plant a plant transformation vector comprising a nucleotide sequence that encodes SEQ ID NO:2 or a polypeptide having at least 95% sequence identity with SEQ ID NO:2, and
growing the transformed progenitor cells to produce a transgenic plant, wherein said transgenic plant exhibits constitutive expression of endogenous PR1 protein and said increased resistance to pathogens controlled by the salicylic acid-dependent resistance pathway relative to a non-transgenic plant.
2 . A transgenic plant produced by the method of claim 2 .
3 . A transgenic plant part obtained from the plant according to claim 2 .
4 . A transgenic plant comprising a plant transformation vector comprising a nucleotide sequence encoding a PPR1 polypeptide having at least 95% sequence identity with SEQ ID NO:2, wherein said transgenic plant exhibits constitutive expression of endogenous PPR1 protein and has increased resistance to a pathogen controlled by salicylic acid-dependent resistance pathway relative to a control plant.
5 . The transgenic plant of claim 4 , wherein the PPR1 polypeptide is SEQ ID NO:2.