Patent

1. A transgenic plant, or parts thereof, with increased biomass compared to a non-transformed plant of the same variety, or parts thereof wherein substantially all cells of the plant have been transformed with a construct comprising a heterologous, constitutive promoter operably linked to a nucleic acid encoding a protein comprising SEQ ID NO:8.

2. A seed of the transgenic plant, or parts thereof, of claim 1 , wherein the seed comprises the construct.

3. The transgenic plant, or parts thereof, of claim 1 , wherein the transgenic plant is a transformed Arabidopsis thaliana and wherein the parts comprise the construct.

4. A seed of the transgenic plant, or parts thereof, of claim 3 , wherein the seed comprises the construct.

5. The transgenic plant, or parts thereof, of claim 1 , wherein the transgenic plant is a transformed Medicago truncatula and wherein the parts comprise the construct.

6. A seed of the transgenic plant, or parts thereof, of claim 5 , wherein the seed comprises the construct.

7. The transgenic plant, or parts thereof, of claim 1 , wherein the transgenic plant is a transformed tobacco plant and wherein the parts comprise the construct.

8. A seed of the transgenic plant, or parts thereof, of claim 7 , wherein the seed or parts comprise the construct.

9. A method of producing a transgenic plant, said method comprising: transforming substantially all cells in a plant with a construct comprising a heterologous, constitutive promoter operably linked to a nucleic acid encoding a protein comprising SEQ ID NO:8.

10. The transgenic plant produced by the method of claim 9 .

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the plant is Arabidopsis thaliana.

12. A progeny of the transgenic plant produced by the method of claim 9 , wherein the progeny comprises the construct.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein the plant is M. truncatula.

14. The method of claim 9 , wherein the plant is a tobacco plant.

15. A method for generating transgenic seeds for plants having an increased biomass, comprising the step of:

(a) multiplying plant cells that contain at least one genetic transformation event of interest and which are capable of regeneration; wherein the genetic transformation event comprises a promoter nucleotide sequence that is capable of initiating transcription in a constitutive manner of an operably linked heterologous nucleic acid sequence comprising a nucleic acid sequence encoding a protein having a sequence of SEQ ID NO: 8 into said plant cells;

(b) selecting the plant cells that comprise at least one genetic transformation event of interest;

(c) regenerating a whole transgenic plant, or parts thereof, termed primary transformants, or T 0 plants, from said plant cells;

(d) pollinating said primary transformants with non-transgenic pollen;

(e) harvesting the seeds obtained, termed T 1 , which have integrated at least one transgene of interest;

(f) sowing said transgenic T 1 seeds and pollinating the plants which result therefrom, either by self-pollination or by free pollination; and

(g) harvesting the T 2 seeds.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the plant cells are Arabidopsis thaliana plant cells, Medicago truncatula plant cells or tobacco plant cells.

17. An isolated transformation vector construct having a heterologous, constitutive promoter region operably linked to an expression region having at least 95% homology with SeqID No.: 23, SeqID No.: 24, or SeqID No.: 25.

18. A transgenic plant, or parts thereof, comprising a construct comprising a heterologous, constitutive promoter operably linked to a nucleic acid encoding a protein comprising SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:8, wherein the parts comprise the construct.

19. The transgenic plant, or parts thereof, of claim 18 , wherein the plant cells are Arabidopsis thaliana plant cells or a M. truncatula plant cells.

20. The transgenic plant, or parts thereof, of claim 18 , wherein the plant cells are tobacco plant cells.

21. A seed of the transgenic plant of claim 18 , wherein the seed comprises the construct.