Shine clade of transcription factors and their use

Abstract

The present invention relates to the field of transgenic plants with novel phenotypes, especially plants with enhanced drought tolerance. Provided are SHINE proteins and nucleic acid sequences encoding these, which are useful in conferring novel phenotypes to plants.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention relates to a novel class of transcription factors, referred herein to as the SHINE clade of transcription factors, and their use to confer various novel phenotypes onto plants, such as drought tolerance and other water use related phenotypes, indehiscence of plant dehiscence zones (conferring for example male sterility or pod shatter resistance) and modification of other cell layers involved in cell separation or in the cell—environment interface. The invention provides nucleic acid sequences encoding SHINE (SHN) proteins, or functional fragments thereof, which are useful for modifying, or newly conferring, one or more novel plant phenotypes. Further provided are isolated SHINE proteins, chimeric genes, nucleic acid vectors, recombinant microorganisms and plants, as well as methods and means for using SHINE (SHN) nucleic acid sequence to confer novel plant phenotypes.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]The interface between plants and t...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0030]Based on the finding that the SHN1 expression resulted in an increase in cuticular water loss, it was even more surprising to find that 35S::SHN1 transformants showed enhanced drought tolerance and recovery. Thus apparently the increased non-stomatal water loss through the altered cuticle was outweighed by the effect of the reduced stomatal index.

[0147]The method comprises in one embodiment the steps of mutagenizing plant seeds (e.g., EMS mutagenesis), pooling of plant individuals or DNA, PCR amplification of a region of interest, heteroduplex formation and high-throughput detection, identification of the mutant plant, sequencing of the mutant PCR product. It is understood that other mutagenesis and selection methods may equally be used to generate such mutant plants. Seeds may for example be radiated or chemically treated and the plants screened for a modified SHN phenotype, such as enhanced drought tolerance.

Problems solved by technology

Without the protective cuticle, transpiration of most land plants would be so rapid that death would result.

Apart from that, also plants grown in regions with relatively high precipitation may suffer spells of drought throughout the growing season.

Although breeding (e.g., marker assisted) for drought tolerance is possible and is being pursued for a range of crop species (mainly cereals, such as maize, upland rice, wheat, sorghum, pearl millet, but also in other species such as cowpea, pigeon pea and Phaseolus bean), it is extremely difficult and tedious because drought tolerance or resistance is a complex trait, determined by the interaction of many loci and gene-environment interactions.

Premature shattering causes significant yield losses in Brassica species, such as Brassica napus (oilseed rape or “canola” if erucic acid and glucosinolate levels are below a certain threshold value).

One of the difficulties in transgenic podshatter approaches is that on the one hand it is desired to prevent easy separation of the two pod valves, on the other hand it must still remain possible to separate the valves in order to harvest the seeds.

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