U.S. patent application number 13/781432 was filed with the patent office on 2013-08-29 for use of nap gene to manipulate leaf senescence in plants.
This patent application is currently assigned to CORNELL RESEARCH FOUNDATION, INC.. The applicant listed for this patent is Cornell Research Foundation, Inc.. Invention is credited to Susheng GAN, Yongfeng GUO.
Application Number | 20130227740 13/781432 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 38541885 |
Filed Date | 2013-08-29 |
United States Patent
Application |
20130227740 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
GAN; Susheng ; et
al. |
August 29, 2013 |
USE OF NAP GENE TO MANIPULATE LEAF SENESCENCE IN PLANTS
Abstract
The present invention discloses transgenic plants having an
altered level of NAP protein compared to that of a non-transgenic
plant, where the transgenic plants display an altered leaf
senescence phenotype relative to a non-transgenic plant, as well as
mutant plants comprising an inactivated NAP gene, where mutant
plants display a delayed leaf senescence phenotype compared to that
of a non-mutant plant. The present invention also discloses methods
for delaying leaf senescence in a plant, as well as methods of
making a mutant plant having a decreased level of NAP protein
compared to that of a non-mutant plant, where the mutant plant
displays a delayed leaf senescence phenotype relative to a
non-mutant plant. Methods for causing precocious leaf senescence or
promoting leaf senescence in a plant are also disclosed. Also
disclosed are methods of identifying a candidate plant suitable for
breeding that displays a delayed leaf senescence and/or enhanced
yield phenotype.
Inventors: |
GAN; Susheng; (Ithaca,
NY) ; GUO; Yongfeng; (Ann Arbor, MI) |
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Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Cornell Research Foundation, Inc.; |
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US |
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Assignee: |
CORNELL RESEARCH FOUNDATION,
INC.
Ithaca
NY
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Family ID: |
38541885 |
Appl. No.: |
13/781432 |
Filed: |
February 28, 2013 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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12294593 |
Nov 6, 2008 |
8420890 |
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PCT/US2007/065321 |
Mar 28, 2007 |
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13781432 |
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60786602 |
Mar 28, 2006 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
800/276 ;
435/6.11; 800/287; 800/294; 800/298 |
Current CPC
Class: |
C12N 15/8266 20130101;
C07K 14/415 20130101; C12N 15/8262 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
800/276 ;
800/294; 800/298; 800/287; 435/6.11 |
International
Class: |
C12N 15/82 20060101
C12N015/82 |
Goverment Interests
[0002] This invention arose out of research sponsored by the U.S.
Department of Energy Basic Energy Sciences (Grant No.
DE-FG02-02ER15341) and the U.S.-Israel Binational Agricultural
Research and Development (BARD) Fund (Grant No. IS-3645-04). The
U.S. Government may have certain rights in this invention.
Claims
1.-46. (canceled)
47. A method of making a mutant plant having a decreased level of
NAP protein compared to that of a non-mutant plant, wherein the
mutant plant displays a delayed leaf senescence phenotype relative
to a non-mutant plant, said method comprising: providing at least
one cell of a non-mutant plant containing a gene encoding a
functional NAP protein; treating said at least one cell of a
non-mutant plant under conditions effective to inactivate said
gene, thereby yielding at least one mutant plant cell containing an
inactivated NAP gene; and propagating said at least one mutant
plant cell into a mutant plant, wherein said mutant plant has a
decreased level of NAP protein compared to that of the non-mutant
plant and displays a delayed leaf senescence phenotype relative to
a non-mutant plant.
48. The method according to claim 47, wherein the functional NAP
protein has an amino acid sequence selected from the group
consisting of SEQ ID NO: 1, SEQ ID NO: 2, SEQ ID NO: 3, SEQ ID NO:
4, SEQ ID NO: 5, SEQ ID NO: 6, SEQ ID NO: 7, SEQ ID NO: 8, SEQ ID
NO: 9, SEQ ID NO: 10, SEQ ID NO: 11, SEQ ID NO: 12, and SEQ ID NO:
13.
49. The method according to claim 47, wherein said treating
comprises subjecting the at least one cell of the non-mutant plant
to a chemical mutagenizing agent under conditions effective to
yield at least one mutant plant cell containing an inactive NAP
gene.
50. The method according to claim 49, wherein the chemical
mutagenizing agent is ethylmethanesulfonate.
51. The method according to claim 47, wherein said treating
comprises subjecting the at least one cell of the non-mutant plant
to a radiation source under conditions effective to yield at least
one mutant plant cell containing an inactive NAP gene.
52. The method according to claim 51, wherein the radiation source
is effective in producing ultraviolet rays, gamma rays, or fast
neutrons.
53. The method according to claim 47, wherein said treating
comprises inserting an inactivating nucleic acid molecule into the
gene encoding the functional NAP protein or its promoter under
conditions effective to inactivate the gene.
54. The method according to claim 53, wherein said inactivating
nucleic acid molecule is a transposable element.
55. The method according to claim 54, wherein the transposable
element is selected from the group consisting of an Activator (Ac)
transposon, a Dissociator (Ds) transposon, and a Mutator (Mu)
transposon.
56. The method according to claim 47, wherein said treating
comprises subjecting the at least one cell of the non-mutant plant
to Agrobacterium transformation under conditions effective to
insert an Agrobacterium T-DNA sequence into the gene, thereby
inactivating the gene.
57. The method according to claim 56, wherein said treating
comprises subjecting the at least one cell of the non-mutant plant
to site-directed mutagenesis of the NAP gene or its promoter under
conditions effective to yield at least one mutant plant cell
containing an inactive NAP gene.
58. The method according to claim 56, wherein said treating
comprises mutagenesis by homologous recombination of the NAP gene
or its promoter.
59. The method according to claim 56, wherein said treating
comprises targeted deletion of a portion of the NAP gene sequence
or its promoter.
60. The method according to claim 56, wherein said treating
comprises targeted insertion of a nucleic acid sequence into the
NAP gene or its promoter.
61. The method according to claim 47, wherein the non-mutant plant
is a crop plant.
62. The method according to claim 61, wherein the crop plant is
selected from the group consisting of alfalfa, rice, wheat, barley,
rye, cotton, sunflower, peanut, corn, potato, sweet potato, kidney
bean, pea, chicory, lettuce, endive, cabbage, bok choy, brussel
sprout, beet, parsnip, turnip, cauliflower, broccoli, radish,
spinach, onion, garlic, eggplant, pepper, celery, carrot, squash,
pumpkin, zucchini, cucumber, apple, pear, melon, citrus, peach,
strawberry, grape, raspberry, pineapple, soybean, Medicago,
tobacco, tomato, sorghum, and sugarcane.
63. The method according to claim 47, wherein the non-mutant plant
is an ornamental plant.
64. The method according to claim 63, wherein the ornamental plant
is selected from the group consisting of Arabidopsis thaliana,
Saintpaulia, Populus, petunia, pelargonium, poinsettia,
chrysanthemum, carnation, zinnia, turfgrass, lily, and
nightshade.
65. A mutant plant produced according to the method of claim
47.
66. A mutant plant seed produced by growing the mutant plant
according to claim 65 under conditions effective to cause the
mutant plant to produce seed.
67. A method for causing precocious leaf senescence or promoting
leaf senescence in a plant, said method comprising: transforming a
plant cell with a nucleic acid molecule encoding a NAP protein
capable of causing leaf senescence in a plant operably associated
with a promoter to obtain a transformed plant cell; regenerating a
plant from the transformed plant cell; and inducing the promoter
under conditions effective to cause premature or precocious leaf
senescence in the plant.
68. The method according to claim 67, wherein the nucleic acid
molecule encodes a NAP protein having an amino acid sequence
selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 1, SEQ ID NO: 2,
SEQ ID NO: 3, SEQ ID NO: 4, SEQ ID NO: 5, SEQ ID NO: 6, SEQ ID NO:
7, SEQ ID NO: 8, SEQ ID NO: 9, SEQ ID NO: 10, SEQ ID NO: 11, SEQ ID
NO: 12, and SEQ ID NO: 13.
69. The method according to claim 67, wherein the plant cell is
from a crop plant.
70. The method according to claim 69, wherein the crop plant is
selected from the group consisting of alfalfa, rice, wheat, barley,
rye, cotton, sunflower, peanut, corn, potato, sweet potato, kidney
bean, pea, chicory, lettuce, endive, cabbage, bok choy, brussel
sprout, beet, parsnip, turnip, cauliflower, broccoli, radish,
spinach, onion, garlic, eggplant, pepper, celery, carrot, squash,
pumpkin, zucchini, cucumber, apple, pear, melon, citrus, peach,
strawberry, grape, raspberry, pineapple, soybean, Medicago,
tobacco, tomato, sorghum, and sugarcane.
71. The method according to claim 70, wherein the crop plant is
cotton.
72. The method according to claim 67, wherein the plant cell is
from an ornamental plant.
73. The method according to claim 72, wherein the ornamental plant
is selected from the group consisting of Arabidopsis thaliana,
Saintpaulia, Populus, petunia, pelargonium, poinsettia,
chrysanthemum, carnation, zinnia, turfgrass, lily, and
nightshade.
74. The method according to claim 67, wherein said transforming is
carried out by a method selected from the group consisting of
Agrobacterium mediated transformation, vacuum infiltration,
biolistic gene transformation, electroporation, microinjection,
chemical-mediated transformation, and laser-beam
transformation.
75. A plant produced by the method of claim 67.
76. A method of identifying a candidate plant suitable for breeding
that displays a delayed leaf senescence and/or enhanced yield
phenotype, said method comprising: analyzing the candidate plant
for the presence, in its genome, of an inactivated NAP gene.
77. The method according to claim 76, wherein the method identifies
a candidate plant suitable for breeding that displays a delayed
leaf senescence phenotype.
78. The method according to claim 76, wherein the method identifies
a candidate plant suitable for breeding that displays an enhanced
yield phenotype.
79. The method according to claim 76, wherein the method identifies
a candidate plant suitable for breeding that displays a delayed
leaf senescence and enhanced yield phenotype.
80. The method according to claim 76, wherein the plant is a crop
plant.
81. The method according to claim 80, wherein the crop plant is
selected from the group consisting of alfalfa, rice, wheat, barley,
rye, cotton, sunflower, peanut, corn, potato, sweet potato, kidney
bean, pea, chicory, lettuce, endive, cabbage, bok choy, brussel
sprout, beet, parsnip, turnip, cauliflower, broccoli, radish,
spinach, onion, garlic, eggplant, pepper, celery, carrot, squash,
pumpkin, zucchini, cucumber, apple, pear, melon, citrus, peach,
strawberry, grape, raspberry, pineapple, soybean, Medicago,
tobacco, tomato, sorghum, and sugarcane.
82. The method according to claim 76, wherein the plant is an
ornamental plant.
83. The method according to claim 82, wherein the ornamental plant
is selected from the group consisting of Arabidopsis thaliana,
Saintpaulia, Populus, petunia, pelargonium, poinsettia,
chrysanthemum, carnation, zinnia, turfgrass, lily, and nightshade.
Description
[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional
Patent Application Ser. No. 60/786,602, filed Mar. 28, 2006, which
is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0003] The present invention relates to transgenic plants having an
altered level of NAP protein compared to that of a non-transgenic
plant, where the transgenic plants display an altered leaf
senescence phenotype relative to a non-transgenic plant. The
present invention also relates to mutant plants comprising an
inactivated NAP gene, where mutant plants display a delayed leaf
senescence phenotype compared to that of a non-mutant plant. In
addition, the present invention relates to methods for delaying
leaf senescence in a plant, as well as methods for causing
precocious leaf senescence or promoting leaf senescence in a plant.
The present invention also relates to methods of identifying a
candidate plant suitable for breeding that displays a delayed leaf
senescence and/or enhanced yield phenotype.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0004] The transition from a functional photosynthetic organ to an
actively degenerating and nutrient-recycling tissue in a leaf's
life history represents the onset of leaf senescence. This onset is
a developmental switch that involves dramatic differential gene
expression. Differential gene expression is believed to play an
important role in leaf senescence. In a senescing leaf, many genes
that are expressed in green leaves, including those genes involved
in photosynthesis, are down-regulated, while a subset of genes,
generally referred to as senescence-associated genes (SAGs), are
up-regulated. Leaf senescence is under direct nuclear control, and
SAG expression is required for senescence to proceed. Inhibitors of
transcription or translation prevent leaves from senescing
(Buchanan-Wollaston et al., "The Molecular Analysis of Leaf
Senescence--A Genomics Approach," Plant Biotechnology Journal
1:3-22 (2003); Guo et al., "Leaf Senescence: Signals, Execution,
and Regulation," Current Topics in Developmental Biology 71:82-112
(2005); Hadfield et al., "Programmed Senescence of Plant Organs,"
Cell Death Differ. 4:662-670 (1997); Lim et al., "The Molecular and
Genetic Control of Leaf Senescence and Longevity in Arabidopsis,"
Current Topics in Developmental Biology 67:49-83 (2005); Smart,
"Gene Expression During Leaf Senescence," New Phytologist
126:419-448 (1994)). For the past decade, much effort has been made
to isolate SAGS, and hundreds of SAGS have been cloned from various
plant species including Arabidopsis, barley, Brassica, maize,
cucumber, rice, tobacco, radish, asparagus and soybean
(Buchanan-Wollaston et al., "The Molecular Analysis of Leaf
Senescence--A Genomics Approach," Plant Biotechnology Journal
1:3-22 (2003); Gepstein et al., "Large-Scale Identification of Leaf
Senescence-Associated Genes," Plant Journal 36:629-642 (2003); He
et al., "Molecular Characteristics of Leaf Senescence," In Recent
Research Developments in Plant Molecular Biology, Kerala, India:
Research Signpost, pp. 1-17 (2003)). Recent application of genomics
approaches has led to the identification of thousands of potential
SAGs (Andersson et al., "A Transcriptional Timetable of Autumn
Senescence," Genome Biology 5:R24 (2004); Bhalerao et al., "Gene
Expression in Autumn Leaves," Plant Physiology 131:430-442 (2003);
Buchanan-Wollaston et al., "The Molecular Analysis of Leaf
Senescence--A Genomics Approach," Plant Biotechnology Journal
1:3-22 (2003); Buchanan-Wollaston et al., "Comparative
Transcriptome Analysis Reveals Significant Differences in Gene
Expression and Signalling Pathways Between Developmental and
Dark/Starvation-Induced Senescence in Arabidopsis," The Plant
Journal 42:567-585 (2005); Guo et al., "Transcriptome of
Arabidopsis Leaf Senescence," Plant Cell and Environment 27:521-549
(2004); Lin et al., "Molecular Events in Senescing Arabidopsis
Leaves," Plant Journal 39:612-628 (2004); Zentgraf et al.,
"Senescence-Related Gene Expression Profiles of Rosette Leaves of
Arabidopsis Thaliana: Leaf Age Versus Plant Age," Plant Biology
6:178-183 (2004)). Analysis of a leaf senescence EST database
(dbEST) indicated that approximately 10% (approximately 2500) of
the Arabidopsis genes are expressed in senescent leaves (Guo et
al., "Transcriptome of Arabidopsis Leaf Senescence," Plant Cell and
Environment 27:521-549 (2004)). Microarray analysis of the global
gene expression changes during developmental leaf senescence in
Arabidopsis has led to the identification of more than 800 genes
that show a reproducible increase in transcript abundance
(Buchanan-Wollaston et al., "Comparative Transcriptome Analysis
Reveals Significant Differences in Gene Expression and Signalling
Pathways Between Developmental and Dark/Starvation-Induced
Senescence in Arabidopsis," The Plant Journal 42:567-585
(2005)).
[0005] Changes of gene expression are often regulated by
transcription factors that bind to specific cis elements of target
gene promoters, resulting in the activation and/or suppression of
the target genes. There are approximately 1500 transcription factor
genes in the Arabidopsis genome that belong to more than 30 gene
families based on their DNA-binding domains (Riechmann et al.,
"Arabidopsis Transcription Factors: Genome-Wide Comparative
Analysis Among Eukaryotes," Science 290:2105-2110 (2000)).
Microarray analysis has identified 96 transcription factor genes
with at least a threefold upregulation during leaf senescence
(Buchanan-Wollaston et al., "Comparative Transcriptome Analysis
Reveals Significant Differences in Gene Expression and Signalling
Pathways Between Developmental and Dark/Starvation-Induced
Senescence in Arabidopsis," The Plant Journal 42:567-585 (2005)),
and analysis of the leaf senescence dbEST revealed 134 unique genes
that encode transcription factors representing 20 different gene
families (Guo et al., "Transcriptome of Arabidopsis Leaf
Senescence," Plant Cell and Environment 27:521-549 (2004)). Among
the largest transcription factor groups are NAC, WRKY, C2H2 type
zinc finger, AP2/EREBP, and MYB proteins (Buchanan-Wollaston et
al., "Comparative Transcriptome Analysis Reveals Significant
Differences in Gene Expression and Signalling Pathways Between
Developmental and Dark/Starvation-Induced Senescence in
Arabidopsis," The Plant Journal 42:567-585 (2005); Chen et al.,
"Expression Profile Matrix of Arabidopsis Transcription Factor
Genes Suggests Their Putative Functions in Response to
Environmental Stresses," Plant Cell 14:559-574 (2002); Guo et al.,
"Transcriptome of Arabidopsis Leaf Senescence," Plant Cell and
Environment 27:521-549 (2004); Lin et al., "Molecular Events in
Senescing Arabidopsis Leaves," Plant Journal 39:612-628 (2004)).
Two WRKY transcription factor genes have been studied: WRKY53 plays
an important role in controlling leaf senescence (Hinderhofer et
al., "Identification of a Transcription Factor Specifically
Expressed at the Onset of Leaf Senescence," Planta 213:469-473
(2001); Miao et al., "Targets of the WRKY53 Transcription Factor
and Its Role During Leaf Senescence in Arabidopsis," Plant Mol Biol
55:853-867(2004); Robatzek et al., "Targets of AtWRKY6 Regulation
During Plant Senescence and Pathogen Defense," Genes Dev
16:1139-1149 (2002)), while suppression of WRKY6 expression has
little effect on either the onset or the progression of leaf
senescence (Hinderhofer et al., "Identification of a Transcription
Factor Specifically Expressed at the Onset of Leaf Senescence,"
Planta 213:469-473 (2001); Miao et al., "Targets of the WRKY53
Transcription Factor and Its Role During Leaf Senescence in
Arabidopsis," Plant Mol Biol 55:853-867(2004); Robatzek et al.,
"Targets of AtWRKY6 Regulation During Plant Senescence and Pathogen
Defense," Genes Dev 16:1139-1149 (2002)). The potential functions
of the majority of the leaf senescence-associated transcription
factors remain to be elucidated.
[0006] A total of 20 genes encoding NAC transcription factors are
in the leaf senescence dbEST (Guo et al., "Transcriptome of
Arabidopsis Leaf Senescence," Plant Cell and Environment 27:521-549
(2004)), representing almost one-fifth of all the predicted 109
members of the NAC superfamily in Arabidopsis (Riechmann et al.,
"Arabidopsis Transcription Factors: Genome-Wide Comparative
Analysis Among Eukaryotes," Science 290:2105-2110 (2000)). The NAC
domain was originally defined by the highly conserved N-termini of
the petunia NAM (NO APICAL MERISTEM) and Arabidopsis ATAF1 and CUC2
(CUP-SHAPED COTYLEDON2) genes. It exists widely in plants but not
in other eukaryotes. Roles of the NAC family genes include embryo
and shoot meristem development, lateral root formation, auxin
signaling, defense, and abiotic stress response (Olsen et al., "NAC
Transcription Factors: Structurally Distinct, Functionally
Diverse," Trends Plant Sci 10:79-87 (2005)). Expression of the NAC
family genes in senescing leaves has been reported by several
groups (Andersson et al., "A Transcriptional Timetable of Autumn
Senescence," Genome Biology 5 (2004); Buchanan-Wollaston et al.,
"Comparative Transcriptome Analysis Reveals Significant Differences
in Gene Expression and Signalling Pathways Between Developmental
and Dark/Starvation-Induced Senescence in Arabidopsis," The Plant
Journal 42:567-585 (2005); Guo et al., "Transcriptome of
Arabidopsis Leaf Senescence," Plant Cell and Environment 27:521-549
(2004); John et al., "Cloning and Characterization of Tomato Leaf
Senescence-Related cDNAs," Plant Molecular Biology 33:641-651
(1997); Lin et al., "Molecular Events in Senescing Arabidopsis
Leaves," Plant Journal 39:612-628 (2004)), but whether these genes
play a part in leaf senescence is unknown.
[0007] The present invention is directed to overcoming these
deficiencies in the art.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0008] The present invention relates to a transgenic plant having
an altered level of NAP protein capable of causing leaf senescence
in a plant, compared to that of a non-transgenic plant, where the
transgenic plant displays an altered leaf senescence phenotype,
relative to a non-transgenic plant.
[0009] Another aspect of the present invention relates to a mutant
plant comprising an inactivated NAP gene, where the mutant plant
displays a delayed leaf senescence phenotype, relative to a
non-mutant plant.
[0010] The present invention also relates to a method for delaying
leaf senescence in a plant. The method involves providing a
transgenic plant or plant seed transformed with a nucleic acid
construct effective in silencing expression of a NAP protein
capable of causing leaf senescence in a plant. Then, the transgenic
plant or the plant grown from the transgenic plant seed is grown
under conditions effective to delay leaf senescence in the
transgenic plant or the plant grown from the transgenic plant
seed.
[0011] Another aspect of the present invention relates to a method
for delaying leaf senescence in a plant. The method involves
transforming a plant cell with a nucleic acid molecule encoding a
NAP protein capable of causing leaf senescence in a plant operably
associated with a promoter to obtain a transformed plant cell,
where expression of the nucleic acid molecule in the plant cell
causes delayed leaf senescence by a form of post-transcriptional
gene silencing. Then, a plant is regenerated from the transformed
plant cell under conditions effective to delay leaf senescence in
the plant.
[0012] Another aspect of the present invention relates to a method
of making a mutant plant having a decreased level of NAP protein
compared to that of a non-mutant plant, where the mutant plant
displays a delayed leaf senescence phenotype relative to a
non-mutant plant. The method involves providing at least one cell
of a non-mutant plant containing a gene encoding a functional NAP
protein. Next, the at least one cell of a non-mutant plant is
treated under conditions effective to inactivate the gene, thereby
yielding at least one mutant plant cell containing an inactivated
NAP gene. Then, the at least one mutant plant cell is propagated
into a mutant plant, where the mutant plant has a decreased level
of NAP protein compared to that of the non-mutant plant and
displays a delayed leaf senescence phenotype relative to a
non-mutant plant.
[0013] Another aspect of the present invention relates to a method
for causing precocious leaf senescence or promoting leaf senescence
in a plant. The method involves transforming a plant cell with a
nucleic acid molecule encoding a NAP protein capable of causing
leaf senescence in a plant operably associated with a promoter to
obtain a transformed plant cell. Next, a plant is regenerated from
the transformed plant cell. Then, the promoter is induced under
conditions effective to cause premature or precocious leaf
senescence in the plant.
[0014] The present invention also relates to a method of
identifying a candidate plant suitable for breeding that displays a
delayed leaf senescence and/or enhanced yield phenotype. The method
involves analyzing the candidate plant for the presence, in its
genome, of an inactivated NAP gene.
[0015] Leaf senescence is a unique developmental process that is
characterized by massive programmed cell death and nutrient
recycling. During leaf senescence, chlorophyll and other
macromolecules such as proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids are
degraded, resulting in a sharp decrease in leaf photosynthetic
activity. Leaf senescence may therefore substantially limit crop
yield and forest biomass accumulation. Occurrence of senescence
after harvest devaluates vegetable crops and ornamental plants
during postharvest storage, transportation, and on shelves.
Techniques that delay leaf senescence are of agricultural
significance. The underlying molecular regulatory mechanisms of
leaf senescence are not well understood.
[0016] The present application describes the functional analysis of
AtNAP, a gene encoding a NAC family transcription factor.
Expression of this gene is closely associated with the senescence
process of Arabidopsis rosette leaves. Leaf senescence in two T-DNA
insertion lines of this gene is significantly delayed. The T-DNA
knockout plants are otherwise normal. The mutant phenotype can be
restored to wild type by the intact AtNAP, as well as by its
homologs in rice, kidney bean, soybean, and maize that are also
upregulated during leaf senescence. Furthermore, inducible
overexpression of AtNAP causes precocious senescence. These data
strongly suggest that AtNAP and its homologs play an important role
in leaf senescence in Arabidopsis and in other plant species.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0017] FIG. 1 shows the CLUSTAL W (1.82) multiple sequence
alignment of NAP proteins from various plants, i.e., kidney bean
(SEQ ID NO: 1), Medicago (SEQ ID NO: 2), soybean (SEQ ID NO: 3),
Populus (SEQ ID NO: 4), nightshade (SEQ ID NO: 5), Arabidopsis (SEQ
ID NO: 6), wheat (SEQ ID NO: 7), rice (SEQ ID NO: 8), maize (SEQ ID
NO: 9), peach (SEQ ID NO: 10), tomato (SEQ ID NO: 11), petunia (SEQ
ID NO: 12), and potato (SEQ ID NO: 13).
[0018] FIGS. 2(a)-(c) show RNA gel blot analysis of AtNAP
expression during leaf senescence in Arabidopsis. FIG. 2(a) depicts
AtNAP expression in leaves at different developmental stages. YL, a
young leaf with half the size of fully expanded leaf; NS, a fully
expanded, non-senescent leaf; ES, an early senescent leaf, with
less than 25% leaf area yellowing; LS, a late senescent leaf, with
more than 50% leaf area yellowing. FIG. 2(b) depicts AtNAP
expression in leaves 1-12 of a 30-day-old plant. Leaves are counted
from the bottom of the rosette. FIG. 2(c) depicts AtNAP expression
in different part of a senescing leaf. B, base; M, middle; T, tip.
The 18S rRNA autoradiographs (FIGS. 2(a) and 2(c)) and ethidium
bromide-stained gel (FIG. 2(b)) indicate the relative amount of
total RNA loaded in respective lanes.
[0019] FIGS. 3(a)-(d) illustrate the nuclear localization of
GFP-AtNAP fusion proteins. FIGS. 3(a) and 3(b) are fluorescent
images of the GFP-AtNAP fusion proteins expressed in living onion
epidermal cells. FIGS. 3(c) and 3(d) depict the DAPI
(4',6'-diamidino 2-phenylindole) staining of the same images to
show the positions of the nuclei (indicated by arrows).
[0020] FIGS. 4(a)-(b) illustrate the expression of AtNAP in two
T-DNA insertion lines. FIG. 4(a) depicts the gene structure of
AtNAP and locations of T-DNA inserts. FIG. 4(b) shows the RNA gel
blot analysis of AtNAP expression in senescing leaves
(approximately 50% yellowing) of wild type, line 1, and line 2
plants.
[0021] FIGS. 5(a)-(d) illustrate the delayed leaf senescence
phenotype of the T-DNA insertion lines compared with that of
age-matched wild-type (WT) plants. FIG. 5(a) shows the early stages
of plant development in the null mutant (line 1) and WT plants.
FIGS. 5(b) and 5(c) show senescence in the mutant lines and WT
plants (note: the null plants are otherwise developmentally
normal). FIG. 5(d) shows leaves excised from age-matched plants in
FIG. 5(c). Leaves were numbered from bottom to top. Under the
disclosed growth conditions, an adult Arabidopsis (accession
Columbia) plant typically produces 12 rosette leaves.
[0022] FIGS. 6(a)-(e) show the physiological and molecular analyses
of atnap null mutant plants (line 1). FIG. 6(a) depicts leaf
survival curves (combination of leaves 9 and 10) of wild-type (WT,
n=27) and line 1 (n=22). FIGS. 6(b)-6(d) show the chlorophyll
content (FIG. 6(b)), F.sub.v/F.sub.m ratio (FIG. 6(c)), and ion
leakage (FIG. 6(d)) in individual rosette leaves of age-matched WT
and line 1 plants. FIG. 6(e) shows the RNA gel blot analysis of
SAG12 and RBCS in the 12 rosette leaves of age-matched WT and line
1 plants.
[0023] FIGS. 7(a)-(d) illustrate the complementation of Arabidopsis
atnap null plants with AtNAP, OsNAP (rice), and PvNAP (kidney
bean). FIG. 7(a) shows the RT-PCR analysis of expression of AtNAP
(left lanes), OsNAP (middle lanes), and PvNAP (right lanes) in
wild-type (WT), atnap null mutant, and atnap null mutant
transformed with AtNAP, OsNAP, or PvNAP. 18s rRNA serves as an
internal standard of equal loading. FIG. 7(b) shows the phenotype
of detached leaves of WT, null mutant, and various complementation
lines. The leaves were kept in darkness for 4 days. FIG. 7(c)
depicts the F.sub.v/F.sub.m ratios of leaves shown in FIG. 7(b).
FIG. 7(d) shows leaf senescence in intact plants of WT, null
mutant, and various complementation lines. The plants were grown
side by side in an Arabidopsis growth chamber.
[0024] FIGS. 8(a)-(d) illustrate that inducible overexpression of
AtNAP causes precocious senescence. FIG. 8(a) depicts the modified
glucocorticoid-inducible gene expression system consisting of
pTA7001 and pGL1167. pTA7001 provides the recombinant transcription
factor GVG (GAL4 binding domain+VP16 activation domain+GR or
glucocorticoid receptor), and pGL1167 contains the GAL4 cis
elements and the AtNAP coding region. FIG. 8(b) shows the
phenotypes of WT and transgenic plants harboring different
constructs. The picture was taken 4 days after treatment with 30
.mu.M DEX inducer. FIG. 8(c) depicts the F.sub.v/F.sub.m ratios of
leaves from different plants that were treated with or without DEX.
FIG. 8(d) shows the RNA gel blot analysis of the expression of
AtNAP, SAG12, SAG13, and RBCS in leaves of plants that were treated
with or without DEX. C, no treatment control; D, DEX treatment.
[0025] FIGS. 9(a)-(d) show homologs of AtNAP in kidney bean
(Phaseolus vulgaris) and rice (Oryza sativa japonica cultivar
group) and their senescence-specific expression patterns. FIG. 9(a)
shows a phylogenetic tree of NAP proteins from different plant
species. FIG. 9(b) is an alignment of amino acid sequences of NAP
proteins from Arabidopsis, kidney bean, and rice. FIG. 9(c) shows
the expression of PvNAP in senescing leaves of kidney bean. FIG.
9(d) shows the expression of OsNAP in senescing leaves of rice. Y,
young leaf; S, senescing leaf.
[0026] FIGS. 10(a)-(b) illustrate the RT-PCR analysis of the
expression of soybean GmNAP (FIG. 10(a)) and maize ZmNAP (FIG.
10(b)) during leaf senescence. 18S rRNA was used as an internal
standard for relative amount of total RNA that was used for each
lane.
[0027] FIGS. 11(a)-(b) depict the RNAi constructs used for
suppression of GmNAP (FIG. 11(a)) and ZmNAP (FIG. 11(b)).
[0028] FIGS. 12(a)-(b) illustrate the complementation of
Arabidopsis atnap null plants with ZmNAP (maize) and GmNAP
(soybean). FIG. 12(a) shows leaf senescence in intact plants of WT,
atnap null mutant, and atnap null mutant transformed with ZmNAP,
while FIG. 12(b) shows leaf senescence in intact plants of WT,
atnap null mutant, and atnap null mutant transformed with
GmNAP.
[0029] FIGS. 13(a)-(b) show the microarray analysis of expression
profile of AtNAP. FIG. 13(a) shows the expression levels of AtNAP
in different plant tissues. The highest value shown in "44
senescent leaf" is 21790.+-.391. FIG. 13(b) illustrates the effect
of various treatments on the AtNAP expression. Ratios of expression
change (numbers in shaded squares) and expression levels after
different treatments are presented. The highest value shown in
"PCD: senescence" is 26597.+-.1957. The data were extracted from
the Genevestigator microarray database (Zimmermann et al.,
"GENEVESTIGATOR. Arabidopsis Microarray Database and Analysis
Toolbox," Plant Physiol 136:2621-2632 (2004), which is hereby
incorporated by reference in its entirety).
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0030] The present invention relates to a transgenic plant having
an altered level of NAP protein capable of causing leaf senescence
in a plant, compared to that of a non-transgenic plant, where the
transgenic plant displays an altered leaf senescence phenotype,
relative to a non-transgenic plant.
[0031] In one embodiment of the present invention, the transgenic
plant has a reduced level of NAP protein and displays a delayed
leaf senescence phenotype. The plant can be transformed with a
nucleic acid construct including a nucleic acid molecule configured
to silence NAP protein expression.
[0032] In another embodiment (as described in more detail infra),
the transgenic plant is transformed with a nucleic acid construct
including a nucleic acid molecule that includes a dominant negative
mutation and encodes a non-functional NAP protein. This construct
is suitable in suppression or interference of endogenous mRNA
encoding the NAP protein.
[0033] In another embodiment (as described in more detail infra),
the transgenic plant is transformed with a nucleic acid construct
including a nucleic acid molecule that is positioned in the nucleic
acid construct to result in suppression or interference of
endogenous mRNA encoding the NAP protein.
[0034] In another embodiment (as described in more detail infra),
the transgenic plant is transformed with a nucleic acid construct
including a nucleic acid molecule that encodes the NAP protein and
is in sense orientation.
[0035] In still another embodiment (as described in more detail
infra), the transgenic plant is transformed with a nucleic acid
construct including a nucleic acid molecule that is an antisense
form of a NAP protein encoding nucleic acid molecule.
[0036] In still another embodiment (as described in more detail
infra), the transgenic plant is transformed with first and second
of the nucleic acid constructs with the first nucleic acid
construct encoding the NAP protein in sense orientation and the
second nucleic acid construct encoding the NAP protein in antisense
form.
[0037] In yet another embodiment (as described in more detail
infra), the transgenic plant is transformed with a nucleic acid
construct including a nucleic acid molecule including a first
segment encoding the NAP protein, a second segment in an antisense
form of a NAP protein encoding nucleic acid molecule, and a third
segment linking the first and second segments.
[0038] In another embodiment of the present invention, the
transgenic plant has an increased level of NAP protein and displays
a premature or precocious leaf senescence phenotype. The plant can
be transformed with a nucleic acid construct configured to
overexpress NAP protein. In another embodiment (as described in
more detail infra), the nucleic acid construct can include a plant
specific promoter, such as an inducible plant promoter. The present
invention further relates to seeds produced from the transgenic
plant of the present invention.
[0039] Another aspect of the present invention relates to a mutant
plant comprising an inactivated NAP gene, where the mutant plant
displays a delayed leaf senescence phenotype, relative to a
non-mutant plant. The present invention further relates to mutant
plant seeds produced by growing the mutant plant of the present
invention under conditions effective to cause the mutant plant to
produce seed.
[0040] The transgenic plants and mutant plants of the present
invention can be any plant with a NAP gene, including crop plants
and ornamental plants. Suitable crop plants include, but are not
limited to, alfalfa, rice, wheat, barley, rye, cotton, sunflower,
peanut, corn, potato, sweet potato, kidney bean, pea, chicory,
lettuce, endive, cabbage, bok choy, brussel sprout, beet, parsnip,
turnip, cauliflower, broccoli, radish, spinach, onion, garlic,
eggplant, pepper, celery, carrot, squash, pumpkin, zucchini,
cucumber, apple, pear, melon, citrus, peach, strawberry, grape,
raspberry, pineapple, soybean, Medicago, tobacco, tomato, sorghum,
and sugarcane. Suitable ornamental plants include, but are not
limited to, Arabidopsis thaliana, Saintpaulia, Populus, petunia,
pelargonium, poinsettia, chrysanthemum, carnation, zinnia,
turfgrass, lily, and nightshade.
[0041] The present invention also relates to a method for delaying
leaf senescence in a plant. The method involves providing a
transgenic plant or plant seed transformed with a nucleic acid
construct effective in silencing expression of a NAP protein
capable of causing leaf senescence in a plant. Then, the transgenic
plant or the plant grown from the transgenic plant seed is grown
under conditions effective to delay leaf senescence in the
transgenic plant or the plant grown from the transgenic plant seed.
Leaf senescence can be delayed in the plant either before or after
harvest.
[0042] In one embodiment, the above step of providing includes
providing a nucleic acid construct having a nucleic acid molecule
configured to silence NAP protein expression. The construct also
includes a 5' DNA promoter sequence and a 3' terminator sequence.
The nucleic acid molecule, the promoter, and the terminator are
operatively coupled to permit expression of the nucleic acid
molecule. A plant cell is then transformed with the nucleic acid
construct. The method can further involve propagating plants from
the transformed plant cell. Suitable methods for transforming the
plant can include, for example, Agrobacterium-mediated
transformation, vacuum infiltration, biolistic transformation,
electroporation, micro-injection, chemical-mediated transformation
(e.g., polyethylene-mediated transformation), and/or laser-beam
transformation. The various aspects of this method are described in
more detail infra.
[0043] In one aspect of the present invention, the nucleic acid
construct results in suppression or interference of NAP protein
expression by the nucleic acid molecule of the construct containing
a dominant negative mutation and encoding a non-functional NAP
protein.
[0044] In another aspect of the present invention, the nucleic acid
construct results in interference of NAP protein expression by
sense or co-suppression in which the nucleic acid molecule of the
construct is in a sense (5'.fwdarw.3') orientation. Co-suppression
has been observed and reported in many plant species and may be
subject to a transgene dosage effect or, in another model, an
interaction of endogenous and transgene transcripts that results in
aberrant mRNAs (Senior, "Uses of Plant Gene Silencing,"
Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering Reviews 15:79-119 (1998);
Waterhouse et al., "Exploring Plant Genomes by RNA-Induced Gene
Silencing," Nature Review: Genetics 4: 29-38 (2003), which are
hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety). A construct
with the nucleic acid molecule in the sense orientation may also
give sequence specificity to RNA silencing when inserted into a
vector along with a construct of both sense and antisense nucleic
acid orientations as described infra (Wesley et al., "Construct
Design for Efficient, Effective and High-Throughput Gene Silencing
in Plants," Plant Journal 27(6) 581-590 (2001), which is hereby
incorporated by reference in its entirety).
[0045] In another embodiment of the present invention, the nucleic
acid construct results in interference of NAP protein expression by
the use of antisense suppression in which the nucleic acid molecule
of the construct is an antisense (3'.fwdarw.5') orientation. The
use of antisense RNA to down-regulate the expression of specific
plant genes is well known (van der Krol et al., Nature, 333:866-869
(1988) and Smith et al., Nature, 334:724-726 (1988), which are
hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety). Antisense
nucleic acids are DNA or RNA molecules that are complementary to at
least a portion of a specific mRNA molecule (Weintraub, "Antisense
RNA and DNA," Scientific American 262:40 (1990), which is hereby
incorporated by reference in its entirety). In the target cell, the
antisense nucleic acids hybridize to a target nucleic acid and
interfere with transcription, and/or RNA processing, transport,
translation, and/or stability. The overall effect of such
interference with the target nucleic acid function is the
disruption of protein expression (Baulcombe, "Mechanisms of
Pathogen-Derived Resistance to Viruses in Transgenic Plants," Plant
Cell 8:1833-44 (1996); Dougherty, et al., "Transgenes and Gene
Suppression Telling us Something New?," Current Opinion in Cell
Biology 7:399-05 (1995); Lomonossoff, "Pathogen-Derived Resistance
to Plant Viruses," Ann. Rev. Phytopathol. 33:323-43 (1995), which
are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety).
Accordingly, one aspect of the present invention involves a nucleic
acid construct which contains the NAP protein encoding nucleic acid
molecule being inserted into the construct in antisense
orientation.
[0046] Interference of NAP protein expression is also achieved in
the present invention by the generation of double-stranded RNA
("dsRNA") through the use of inverted-repeats, segments of
gene-specific sequences oriented in both sense and antisense
orientations. In one embodiment of this aspect of the present
invention, sequences in the sense and antisense orientations are
linked by a third segment, and inserted into a suitable expression
vector having the appropriate 5' and 3' regulatory nucleotide
sequences operably linked for transcription. The expression vector
having the modified nucleic acid molecule is then inserted into a
suitable host cell or subject. In the present invention, the third
segment linking the two segments of sense and antisense orientation
may be any nucleotide sequence such as a fragment of the
.beta.-glucuronidase ("GUS") gene. In another embodiment of this
aspect of the present invention, a functional (splicing) intron of
the NAP gene may be used for the third (linking) segment, or, in
yet another aspect of the present invention, other nucleotide
sequences without complementary components in the NAP gene may be
used to link the two segments of sense and antisense orientation
(Chuang et al., "Specific and Heritable Genetic Interference by
Double-Stranded RNA in Arabidopsis thaliana," Proc. Nat'l Academy
of Sciences USA 97(9):4985-4990 (2000); Smith et al., "Total
Silencing by Intron-Spliced Hairpin RNAs," Nature 407:319-320
(2000); Waterhouse et al., "Exploring Plant Genomes by RNA-Induced
Gene Silencing," Nature Review:Genetics 4:29-38 (2003); Wesley et
al., "Construct Design for Efficient, Effective and High-Throughput
Gene Silencing in Plants," Plant Journal 27(6):581-590 (2001),
which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety). In
any of the embodiments with inverted repeats of NAP protein, the
sense and antisense segments may be oriented either head-to-head or
tail-to-tail in the construct.
[0047] Another aspect of the present invention involves using
hairpin RNA ("hpRNA") which may also be characterized as dsRNA.
This involves RNA hybridizing with itself to form a hairpin
structure that comprises a single-stranded loop region and a
base-paired stem. Though a linker may be used between the inverted
repeat segments of sense and antisense sequences to generate
hairpin or double-stranded RNA, the use of intron-free hpRNA can
also be used to achieve silencing of NAP protein expression.
[0048] Alternatively, in another aspect of the present invention, a
plant may be transformed with constructs encoding both sense and
antisense orientation molecules having separate promoters and no
third segment linking the sense and antisense sequences (Chuang et
al., "Specific and Heritable Genetic Interference by
Double-Stranded RNA in Arabidopsis thaliana," Proc. Nat'l Academy
of Sciences USA 97(9):4985-4990 (2000); Waterhouse et al.,
"Exploring Plant Genomes by RNA-Induced Gene Silencing," Nature
Review:Genetics 4:29-38 (2003); Wesley et al., "Construct Design
for Efficient, Effective and High-Throughput Gene Silencing in
Plants," Plant Journal 27(6):581-590 (2001), which are hereby
incorporated by reference in their entirety).
[0049] The NAP nucleotide sequences used in the present invention
may be inserted into any of the many available expression vectors
and cell systems using reagents that are well known in the art.
Suitable vectors include, but are not limited to, the following
viral vectors such as lambda vector system gt11, gt WES.tB, Charon
4, and plasmid vectors such as pG-Cha, p35S-Cha, pBR322, pBR325,
pACYC177, pACYC1084, pUC8, pUC9, pUC18, pUC19, pLG339, pR290,
pKC37, pKC101, SV 40, pBluescript II SK+/- or KS+/- (see
"Stratagene Cloning Systems" Catalog (1993) from Stratagene, La
Jolla, Calif., which is hereby incorporated by reference in its
entirety), pQE, pIH821, pGEX, pET series (see Studier et. al., "Use
of T7 RNA Polymerase to Direct Expression of Cloned Genes," Gene
Expression Technology vol. 185 (1990), which is hereby incorporated
by reference in its entirety), and any derivatives thereof.
Recombinant molecules can be introduced into cells via
transformation, particularly transduction, conjugation,
mobilization, or electroporation. The DNA sequences are cloned into
the vector using standard cloning procedures in the art, as
described by Sambrook et al., Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory
Manual, Second Edition, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.:Cold Spring Harbor
Press (1989), and Ausubel et al., Current Protocols in Molecular
Biology, New York, N.Y.:John Wiley & Sons (1989), which are
hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
[0050] In preparing a nucleic acid construct for expression, the
various nucleic acid sequences may normally be inserted or
substituted into a bacterial plasmid. Any convenient plasmid may be
employed, which will be characterized by having a bacterial
replication system, a marker which allows for selection in a
bacterium, and generally one or more unique, conveniently located
restriction sites. Numerous plasmids, referred to as transformation
vectors, are available for plant transformation. The selection of a
vector will depend on the preferred transformation technique and
target species for transformation. A variety of vectors are
available for stable transformation using Agrobacterium
tumefaciens, a soilborne bacterium that causes crown gall. Crown
gall are characterized by tumors or galls that develop on the lower
stem and main roots of the infected plant. These tumors are due to
the transfer and incorporation of part of the bacterium plasmid DNA
into the plant chromosomal DNA. This transfer DNA (T-DNA) is
expressed along with the normal genes of the plant cell. The
plasmid DNA, pTi, or Ti-DNA, for "tumor inducing plasmid," contains
the vir genes necessary for movement of the T-DNA into the plant.
The T-DNA carries genes that encode proteins involved in the
biosynthesis of plant regulatory factors, and bacterial nutrients
(opines). The T-DNA is delimited by two 25 bp imperfect direct
repeat sequences called the "border sequences." By removing the
oncogene and opine genes, and replacing them with a gene of
interest, it is possible to transfer foreign DNA into the plant
without the formation of tumors or the multiplication of
Agrobacterium tumefaciens (Fraley et al., "Expression of Bacterial
Genes in Plant Cells," Proc. Nat'l Acad. Sci. 80:4803-4807 (1983),
which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety).
[0051] Further improvement of this technique led to the development
of the binary vector system (Bevan, "Binary Agrobacterium Vectors
for Plant Transformation," Nucleic Acids Res. 12:8711-8721 (1984),
which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety). In this
system, all the T-DNA sequences (including the borders) are removed
from the pTi, and a second vector containing T-DNA is introduced
into Agrobacterium tumefaciens. This second vector has the
advantage of being replicable in E. coli as well as A. tumefaciens,
and contains a multiclonal site that facilitates the cloning of a
transgene. An example of a commonly-used vector is pBin19 (Frisch
et al., "Complete Sequence of the Binary Vector Bin19," Plant
Molec. Biol. 27:405-409 (1995), which is hereby incorporated by
reference in its entirety). Any appropriate vectors now known or
later described for genetic transformation are suitable for use
with the present invention.
[0052] U.S. Pat. No. 4,237,224 to Cohen and Boyer, which is hereby
incorporated by reference in its entirety, describes the production
of expression systems in the form of recombinant plasmids using
restriction enzyme cleavage and ligation with DNA ligase. These
recombinant plasmids are then introduced by means of transformation
and replicated in unicellular cultures including prokaryotic
organisms and eukaryotic cells grown in tissue culture.
[0053] Certain "control elements" or "regulatory sequences" are
also incorporated into the vector-construct. These include
non-translated regions of the vector, promoters, and 5' and 3'
untranslated regions which interact with host cellular proteins to
carry out transcription and translation. Such elements may vary in
their strength and specificity. Depending on the vector system and
host utilized, any number of suitable transcription and translation
elements, including constitutive and inducible promoters, may be
used. Tissue-specific and organ-specific promoters can also be
used.
[0054] A constitutive promoter is a promoter that directs
expression of a gene throughout the development and life of an
organism. Examples of some constitutive promoters that are widely
used for inducing expression of transgenes include the nopaline
synthase (NOS) gene promoter, from Agrobacterium tumefaciens (U.S.
Pat. No. 5,034,322 to Rogers et al., which is hereby incorporated
by reference in its entirety), the cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV)
35S and 19S promoters (U.S. Pat. No. 5,352,605 to Fraley et al.,
which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety), those
derived from any of the several actin genes, which are known to be
expressed in most cells types (U.S. Pat. No. 6,002,068 to Privalle
et al., which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety),
and the ubiquitin promoter, which is a gene product known to
accumulate in many cell types.
[0055] An inducible promoter is a promoter that is capable of
directly or indirectly activating transcription of one or more DNA
sequences or genes in response to an inducer. In the absence of an
inducer, the DNA sequences or genes will not be transcribed. The
inducer can be a chemical agent, such as a metabolite, growth
regulator, herbicide, or phenolic compound, or a physiological
stress directly imposed upon the plant such as cold, heat, salt,
toxins, or through the action of a pathogen or disease agent such
as a virus or fungus. A plant cell containing an inducible promoter
may be exposed to an inducer by externally applying the inducer to
the cell or plant such as by spraying, watering, heating, or by
exposure to the operative pathogen. An example of an appropriate
inducible promoter is a glucocorticoid-inducible promoter (Schena
et al., "A Steroid-Inducible Gene Expression System for Plant
Cells," Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 88:10421-5 (1991), which is hereby
incorporated by reference in its entirety). Expression of the
transgene-encoded protein is induced in the transformed plants when
the transgenic plants are brought into contact with nanomolar
concentrations of a glucocorticoid, or by contact with
dexamethasone, a glucocorticoid analog (Schena et al., "A
Steroid-Inducible Gene Expression System for Plant Cells," Proc.
Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88:10421-5 (1991); Aoyama et al., "A
Glucocorticoid-Mediated Transcriptional Induction System in
Transgenic Plants," Plant J. 11:605-612 (1997); McNellis et al.,
"Glucocorticoid-Inducible Expression of a Bacterial Avirulence Gene
in Transgenic Arabidopsis Induces Hypersensitive Cell Death, Plant
J. 14(2):247-57 (1998), which are hereby incorporated by reference
in their entirety). In addition, inducible promoters include
promoters that function in a tissue specific manner to regulate the
gene of interest within selected tissues of the plant. Examples of
such tissue specific or developmentally regulated promoters include
seed, flower, fruit, or root specific promoters as are well known
in the field (U.S. Pat. No. 5,750,385 to Shewmaker et al., which is
hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety).
[0056] A number of tissue- and organ-specific promoters have been
developed for use in genetic engineering of plants (Potenza et al.,
"Targeting Transgene Expression in Research, Agricultural, and
Environmental Applications: Promoters used in Plant
Transformation," In Vitro Cell. Dev. Biol. Plant 40:1-22 (2004),
which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety).
Examples of such promoters include those that are floral-specific
(Annadana et al., "Cloning of the Chrysanthemum UEP1 Promoter and
Comparative Expression in Florets and Leaves of Dendranthema
grandiflora," Transgenic Res. 11:437-445 (2002), which is hereby
incorporated by reference in its entirety), seed-specific (Kluth et
al., "5' Deletion of a gbss1 Promoter Region Leads to Changes in
Tissue and Developmental Specificities," Plant Mol. Biol.
49:669-682 (2002), which is hereby incorporated by reference in its
entirety), root-specific (Yamamoto et al., "Characterization of
cis-acting Sequences Regulating Root-Specific Gene Expression in
Tobacco," Plant Cell 3:371-382 (1991), which is hereby incorporated
by reference in its entirety), fruit-specific (Fraser et al.,
"Evaluation of Transgenic Tomato Plants Expressing an Additional
Phytoene Synthase in a Fruit-Specific Manner," Proc. Natl. Acad.
Sci. USA 99:1092-1097 (2002), which is hereby incorporated by
reference in its entirety), and tuber/storage organ-specific
(Visser et al., "Expression of a Chimaeric Granule-Bound Starch
Synthase-GUS gene in transgenic Potato Plants," Plant Mol. Biol.
17:691-699 (1991), which is hereby incorporated by reference in its
entirety). Targeted expression of an introduced gene (transgene) is
necessary when expression of the transgene could have detrimental
effects if expressed throughout the plant. On the other hand,
silencing a gene throughout a plant could also have negative
effects. However, this problem could be avoided by localizing the
silencing to a region by a tissue-specific promoter.
[0057] The nucleic acid construct used in the present invention
also includes an operable 3' regulatory region, selected from among
those which are capable of providing correct transcription
termination and polyadenylation of mRNA for expression in the host
cell of choice, operably linked to a modified trait nucleic acid
molecule of the present invention. A number of 3' regulatory
regions are known to be operable in plants. Exemplary 3' regulatory
regions include, without limitation, the nopaline synthase ("nos")
3' regulatory region (Fraley et al., "Expression of Bacterial Genes
in Plant Cells," Proc. Nat'l Acad. Sci. USA 80:4803-4807 (1983),
which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety) and the
cauliflower mosaic virus ("CaMV") 3' regulatory region (Odell et
al., "Identification of DNA Sequences Required for Activity of the
Cauliflower Mosaic Virus 35S Promoter," Nature 313(6005):810-812
(1985), which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety).
Virtually any 3' regulatory region known to be operable in plants
would be suitable for use in conjunction with the present
invention.
[0058] The different components described above can be ligated
together to produce the expression systems which contain the
nucleic acid constructs used in the present invention, using well
known molecular cloning techniques as described in Sambrook et al.,
Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, Second Edition Cold Spring
Harbor, N.Y.:Cold Spring Harbor Press (1989), and Ausubel et al.
Current Protocols in Molecular Biology, New York, N.Y.:John Wiley
& Sons (1989), which are hereby incorporated by reference in
their entirety.
[0059] Once the nucleic acid construct has been prepared, it is
ready to be incorporated into a host cell. Basically, this method
is carried out by transforming a host cell with the nucleic acid
construct under conditions effective to achieve transcription of
the nucleic acid molecule in the host cell. This is achieved with
standard cloning procedures known in the art, such as described by
Sambrook et al., Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, Second
Edition, Cold Springs Laboratory, Cold Springs Harbor, N.Y. (1989),
which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. Suitable
host cells are plant cells. Methods of transformation may result in
transient or stable expression of the nucleic acid under control of
the promoter. Preferably, the nucleic acid construct of the present
invention is stably inserted into the genome of the recombinant
plant cell as a result of the transformation, although transient
expression can serve an important purpose, particularly when the
plant under investigation is slow-growing.
[0060] Plant tissue suitable for transformation includes leaf
tissue, root tissue, meristems, zygotic and somatic embryos,
callus, protoplasts, tassels, pollen, embryos, anthers, and the
like. The means of transformation chosen is that most suited to the
tissue to be transformed.
[0061] Transient expression in plant tissue can be achieved by
particle bombardment (Klein et al., "High-Velocity Microprojectiles
for Delivering Nucleic Acids Into Living Cells," Nature 327:70-73
(1987), which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety),
also known as biolistic transformation of the host cell, as
disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,945,050, 5,036,006, and 5,100,792,
all to Sanford et al., and in Emerschad et al., "Somatic
Embryogenesis and Plant Development from Immature Zygotic Embryos
of Seedless Grapes (Vitis vinifera)," Plant Cell Reports 14:6-12
(1995), which are hereby incorporated by reference in their
entirety.
[0062] In particle bombardment, tungsten or gold microparticles (1
to 2 .mu.m in diameter) are coated with the DNA of interest and
then bombarded at the tissue using high pressure gas. In this way,
it is possible to deliver foreign DNA into the nucleus and obtain a
temporal expression of the gene under the current conditions of the
tissue. Biologically active particles (e.g., dried bacterial cells
containing the vector and heterologous DNA) can also be propelled
into plant cells. Other variations of particle bombardment, now
known or hereafter developed, can also be used.
[0063] An appropriate method of stably introducing the nucleic acid
construct into plant cells is to infect a plant cell with
Agrobacterium tumefaciens or Agrobacterium rhizogenes previously
transformed with the nucleic acid construct. As described above,
the Ti (or RI) plasmid of Agrobacterium enables the highly
successful transfer of a foreign nucleic acid molecule into plant
cells. A variation of Agrobacterium transformation uses vacuum
infiltration in which whole plants are used (Senior, "Uses of Plant
Gene Silencing," Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering Reviews
15:79-119 (1998), which is hereby incorporated by reference in its
entirety).
[0064] Yet another method of introduction is fusion of protoplasts
with other entities, either minicells, cells, lysosomes, or other
fusible lipid-surfaced bodies (Fraley et al., Proc. Natl. Acad.
Sci. USA 79:1859-63 (1982), which is hereby incorporated by
reference in its entirety). The nucleic acid molecule may also be
introduced into the plant cells by electroporation (Fromm et al.,
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 82:5824 (1985), which is hereby
incorporated by reference in its entirety). In this technique,
plant protoplasts are electroporated in the presence of plasmids
containing the expression cassette. Electrical impulses of high
field strength reversibly permeabilize biomembranes allowing the
introduction of the plasmids. Electroporated plant protoplasts
reform the cell wall, divide, and regenerate. Other methods of
transformation include chemical-mediated plant transformation,
micro-injection, physical abrasives, and laser beams (Senior, "Uses
of Plant Gene Silencing," Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering
Reviews 15:79-119 (1998), which is hereby incorporated by reference
in its entirety). The precise method of transformation is not
critical to the practice of the present invention. Any method that
results in efficient transformation of the host cell of choice is
appropriate for practicing the present invention.
[0065] After transformation, the transformed plant cells must be
regenerated. Plant regeneration from cultured protoplasts is
described in Evans et al., Handbook of Plant Cell Cultures, Vol. 1,
New York, N.Y.:MacMillan Publishing Co. (1983); Vasil, ed., Cell
Culture and Somatic Cell Genetics of Plants, Vol. I (1984) and Vol.
III (1986), Orlando:Acad. Press; and Fitch et al., "Somatic
Embryogenesis and Plant Regeneration from Immature Zygotic Embryos
of Papaya (Carica papaya L.)," Plant Cell Rep. 9:320 (1990), which
are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
[0066] Means for regeneration vary from species to species of
plants, but generally a suspension of transformed protoplasts or a
petri plate containing explants is first provided. Callus tissue is
formed and shoots may be induced from callus and subsequently
rooted. Alternatively, embryo formation can be induced in the
callus tissue. These embryos germinate as natural embryos to form
plants. The culture media will generally contain various amino
acids and hormones, such as auxin and cytokinins Efficient
regeneration will depend on the medium, on the genotype, and on the
history of the culture. If these three variables are controlled,
then regeneration is usually reproducible and repeatable.
[0067] Preferably, transformed cells are first identified using a
selection marker simultaneously introduced into the host cells
along with the nucleic acid construct of the present invention.
Suitable selection markers include, without limitation, markers
encoding for antibiotic resistance, such as the neomycin
phosphotransferae II ("nptII") gene which confers kanamycin
resistance (Fraley et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 80:4803-4807
(1983), which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety),
and the genes which confer resistance to gentamycin, G418,
hygromycin, streptomycin, spectinomycin, tetracycline,
chloramphenicol, and the like. Cells or tissues are grown on a
selection medium containing the appropriate antibiotic, whereby
generally only those transformants expressing the antibiotic
resistance marker continue to grow. Other types of markers are also
suitable for inclusion in the expression cassette of the present
invention. For example, a gene encoding for herbicide tolerance,
such as tolerance to sulfonylurea is useful, or the dhfr gene,
which confers resistance to methotrexate (Bourouis et al., EMBO J.
2:1099-1104 (1983), which is hereby incorporated by reference in
its entirety). Similarly, "reporter genes," which encode for
enzymes providing for production of an identifiable compound are
suitable. The most widely used reporter gene for gene fusion
experiments has been uidA, a gene from Escherichia coli that
encodes the .beta.-glucuronidase protein, also known as GUS
(Jefferson et al., "GUS Fusions: .beta. Glucuronidase as a
Sensitive and Versatile Gene Fusion Marker in Higher Plants," EMBO
J. 6:3901-3907 (1987), which is hereby incorporated by reference in
its entirety). Similarly, enzymes providing for production of a
compound identifiable by luminescence, such as luciferase, are
useful. The selection marker employed will depend on the target
species; for certain target species, different antibiotics,
herbicide, or biosynthesis selection markers are preferred.
[0068] Plant cells and tissues selected by means of an inhibitory
agent or other selection marker are then tested for the acquisition
of the transgene (Sambrook et al., Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory
Manual, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.:Cold Spring Harbor Press (1989),
which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety).
[0069] After the fusion gene containing a nucleic acid construct is
stably incorporated in transgenic plants, the transgene can be
transferred to other plants by sexual crossing. Any of a number of
standard breeding techniques can be used, depending upon the
species to be crossed. Once transgenic plants of this type are
produced, the plants themselves can be cultivated in accordance
with conventional procedure so that the nucleic acid construct is
present in the resulting plants. Alternatively, transgenic seeds
are recovered from the transgenic plants. These seeds can then be
planted in the soil and cultivated using conventional procedures to
produce transgenic plants.
[0070] An example of NAP protein that is encoded by the nucleic
acid molecule used in the present invention is a NAP protein from
kidney bean having an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, as shown
in FIG. 1. In addition, other examples of NAP proteins include NAP
proteins from Medicago, soybean, Populus, nightshade, Arabidopsis,
wheat, rice, maize, peach, tomato, petunia, and potato having amino
acid sequences of SEQ ID NO: 2, SEQ ID NO: 3, SEQ ID NO: 4, SEQ ID
NO: 5, SEQ ID NO: 6, SEQ ID NO: 7, SEQ ID NO: 8, SEQ ID NO: 9, SEQ
ID NO: 10, SEQ ID NO: 11, SEQ ID NO: 12, and SEQ ID NO: 13,
respectively, as shown in FIG. 1.
[0071] The method of the present invention can be utilized in
conjunction with plant cells from a wide variety of plants, as
described supra. The present invention also relates to plants
produced by the method of the present invention, described
supra.
[0072] Another aspect of the present invention relates to a method
for delaying leaf senescence in a plant. The method involves
transforming a plant cell with a nucleic acid molecule encoding a
NAP protein capable of causing leaf senescence in a plant operably
associated with a promoter to obtain a transformed plant cell,
where expression of the nucleic acid molecule in the plant cell
causes delayed leaf senescence by a form of post-transcriptional
gene silencing. Then, a plant is regenerated from the transformed
plant cell under conditions effective to delay leaf senescence in
the plant.
[0073] In the aspect of the present invention in which delay of
leaf senescence is desired, the method of interfering with
endogenous NAP protein expression may involve an RNA-based form of
gene-silencing known as RNA interference (RNAi) (also known more
recently as siRNA for short, interfering RNAs). RNAi is a form of
post-transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS). PTGS is the silencing
of an endogenous gene caused by the introduction of a homologous
double-stranded RNA (dsRNA), transgene, or virus. In PTGS, the
transcript of the silenced gene is synthesized, but does not
accumulate because it is degraded. RNAi is a specific from of PTGS,
in which the gene silencing is induced by the direct introduction
of dsRNA. Numerous reports have been published on critical advances
in the understanding of the biochemistry and genetics of both gene
silencing and RNAi (Matzke et al., "RNA-Based Silencing Strategies
in Plants," Curr Opin Genet Dev 11(2):221-227 (2001), Hammond et
al., "Post-Transcriptional Gene Silencing by Double-Stranded RNA,"
Nature Rev Gen 2:110-119 (Abstract) (2001); Hamilton et al., "A
Species of Small Antisense RNA in Posttranscriptional Gene
Silencing in Plants," Science 286:950-952 (Abstract) (1999);
Hammond et al., "An RNA-Directed Nuclease Mediates
Post-Transcriptional Gene Silencing in Drosophila Cells," Nature
404:293-298 (2000); Hutvagner et al., "RNAi: Nature Abhors a
Double-Strand," Curr Opin Genetics & Development 12:225-232
(2002), which are hereby incorporated by reference in their
entirety). In iRNA, the introduction of double stranded RNA (dsRNA)
into animal or plant cells leads to the destruction of the
endogenous, homologous mRNA, phenocopying a null mutant for that
specific gene. In siRNA, the dsRNA is processed to short
interfering molecules of 21-, 22- or 23-nucleotide RNAs (siRNA),
which are also called "guide RAs," (Hammond et al.,
"Post-Transcriptional Gene Silencing by Double-Stranded RNA,"
Nature Rev Gen 2:110-119 (Abstract) (2001); Sharp, P. A., "RNA
Interference-2001," Genes Dev 15:485-490 (2001); Hutvagner et al.,
"RNAi: Nature Abhors a Double-Strand," Curr Opin Genetics &
Development 12:225-232 (2002), which are hereby incorporated by
reference in their entirety) in vivo by the Dicer enzyme, a member
of the RNAse III-family of dsRNA-specific ribonucleases (Hutvagner
et al., "RNAi: Nature Abhors a Double-Strand," Curr Opin Genetics
& Development 12:225-232 (2002); Bernstein et al., "Role for a
Bidentate Ribonuclease in the Initiation Step of RNA Interference,"
Nature 409:363-366 (2001); Tuschl, T., "RNA Interference and Small
Interfering RNAs," Chembiochem 2: 239-245 (2001); Zamore et al.,
"RNAi: Double Stranded RNA Directs the ATP-Dependent Cleavage of
mRNA at 21 to 23 Nucleotide Intervals," Cell 101:25-3 (2000); U.S.
Pat. No. 6,737,512 to Wu et al., which are hereby incorporated by
reference in their entirety). Successive cleavage events degrade
the RNA to 19-21 bp duplexes, each with 2-nucleotide 3' overhangs
(Hutvagner et al., "RNAi: Nature Abhors a Double-Strand," Curr Opin
Genetics & Development 12:225-232 (2002); Bernstein et al.,
"Role for a Bidentate Ribonuclease in the Initiation Step of RNA
Interference," Nature 409:363-366 (2001), which are hereby
incorporated by reference in their entirety). The siRNAs are
incorporated into an effector known as the RNA-induced silencing
complex (RISC), which targets the homologous endogenous transcript
by base pairing interactions and cleaves the mRNA approximately 12
nucleotides form the 3' terminus of the siRNA (Hammond et al.,
"Post-Transcriptional Gene Silencing by Double-Stranded RNA,"
Nature Rev Gen 2:110-119 (Abstract) (2001); Sharp, P. A., "RNA
Interference-2001," Genes Dev 15:485-490 (2001); Hutvagner et al.,
"RNAi: Nature Abhors a Double-Strand," Curr Opin Genetics &
Development 12:225-232 (2002); Nykanen et al., "ATP Requirements
and Small Interfering RNA Structure in the RNA Interference
Pathway," Cell 107:309-321 (2001), which are hereby incorporated by
reference in their entirety).
[0074] There are several methods for preparing siRNA, including
chemical synthesis, in vitro transcription, siRNA expression
vectors, and PCR expression cassettes. In one aspect of the present
invention, dsRNA for the nucleic acid molecule used in the present
invention can be generated by transcription in vivo. This involves
modifying the nucleic acid molecule for the production of dsRNA,
inserting the modified nucleic acid molecule into a suitable
expression vector having the appropriate 5' and 3' regulatory
nucleotide sequences operably linked for transcription and
translation, as described supra, and introducing the expression
vector having the modified nucleic acid molecule into a suitable
host or subject. Using siRNA for gene silencing is a rapidly
evolving tool in molecular biology, and guidelines are available in
the literature for designing highly effective siRNA targets and
making antisense nucleic acid constructs for inhibiting endogenous
protein (U.S. Pat. No. 6,737,512 to Wu et al.; Brown et al., "RNA
Interference in Mammalian Cell Culture: Design, Execution, and
Analysis of the siRNA Effect," Ambion TechNotes 9(1):3-5 (2002);
Sui et al., "A DNA Vector-Based RNAi Technology to Suppress Gene
Expression in Mammalian Cells," Proc Natl Acad Sci USA
99(8):5515-5520 (2002); Yu et al., "RNA Interference by Expression
of Short-Interfering RNAs and Hairpin RNAs in Mammalian Cells,"
Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 99(9): 6047-6052 (2002); Paul et al.,
"Effective Expression of Small Interfering RNA in Human Cells,"
Nature Biotechnology 20:505-508 (2002); Brummelkamp et al., "A
System for Stable Expression of Short Interfering RNAs in Mammalian
Cells," Science 296:550-553 (2002), which are hereby incorporated
by reference in their entirety). There are also commercially
available sources for custom-made siRNAs.
[0075] The present invention also relates to a method of making a
mutant plant having a decreased level of NAP protein compared to
that of a non-mutant plant, where the mutant plant displays a
delayed leaf senescence phenotype relative to a non-mutant plant.
The method involves providing at least one cell of a non-mutant
plant containing a gene encoding a functional NAP protein. Next,
the at least one cell of a non-mutant plant is treated under
conditions effective to inactivate the gene, thereby yielding at
least one mutant plant cell containing an inactivated NAP gene. The
at least one mutant plant cell is then propagated into a mutant
plant, where the mutant plant has a decreased level of NAP protein
compared to that of the non-mutant plant and displays a delayed
leaf senescence phenotype relative to a non-mutant plant.
[0076] In other embodiments of this method of making a mutant
plant, the functional NAP protein can be any NAP protein from a
wide variety of plants as described herein supra.
[0077] In another embodiment of this method of making a mutant
plant, the treating step involves subjecting the at least one cell
of the non-mutant plant to a chemical mutagenizing agent under
conditions effective to yield at least one mutant plant cell
containing an inactive NAP gene. Suitable chemical mutagenizing
agents can include, for example, ethylmethanesulfonate.
[0078] In another embodiment of this method of making a mutant
plant, the treating step involves subjecting the at least one cell
of the non-mutant plant to a radiation source under conditions
effective to yield at least one mutant plant cell containing an
inactive NAP gene. Suitable radiation sources can include, for
example, sources that are effective in producing ultraviolet rays,
gamma rays, or fast neutrons.
[0079] In another embodiment of this method of making a mutant
plant, the treating step involves inserting an inactivating nucleic
acid molecule into the gene encoding the functional NAP protein or
its promoter under conditions effective to inactivate the gene.
Suitable inactivating nucleic acid molecules can include, for
example, a transposable element. Examples of such transposable
elements include, but are not limited to, an Activator (Ac)
transposon, a Dissociator (Ds) transposon, or a Mutator (Mu)
transposon.
[0080] In yet another embodiment of this method of making a mutant
plant, the treating step involves subjecting the at least one cell
of the non-mutant plant to Agrobacterium transformation under
conditions effective to insert an Agrobacterium T-DNA sequence into
the gene, thereby inactivating the gene. Suitable Agrobacterium
T-DNA sequences can include, for example, those sequences that are
carried on a binary transformation vector of pAC106, pAC161,
pGABI1, pADIS1, pCSA110, pDAP101, derivatives of pBIN19, or pCAMBIA
plasmid series.
[0081] In still another aspect of this method of making a mutant
plant, the treating step involves subjecting the at least one cell
of the non-mutant plant to site-directed mutagenesis of the NAP
gene or its promoter under conditions effective to yield at least
one mutant plant cell containing an inactive NAP gene. The treating
step can also involve mutagenesis by homologous recombination of
the NAP gene or its promoter, targeted deletion of a portion of the
NAP gene sequence or its promoter, and/or targeted insertion of a
nucleic acid sequence into the NAP gene or its promoter. The
various plants that can be used in this method are the same as
those described supra with respect to the transgenic plants and
mutant plants. Other embodiments of the present invention relate to
mutant plants produced by this method, as well as mutant plant
seeds produced by growing the mutant plant under conditions
effective to cause the mutant plant to produce seed.
[0082] The present invention also relates to a method for causing
precocious leaf senescence or promoting leaf senescence in a plant.
The method involves transforming a plant cell with a nucleic acid
molecule encoding a NAP protein capable of causing leaf senescence
in a plant operably associated with a promoter to obtain a
transformed plant cell. Next, a plant is regenerated from the
transformed plant cell. Then, the promoter is induced under
conditions effective to cause premature or precocious leaf
senescence in the plant. The method of the present invention can be
utilized in conjunction with plant cells from a wide variety of
plants, as described supra. Preferably, this method is used to
cause premature or precocious leaf senescence in cotton. The
present invention also relates to plants produced by this method of
the present invention.
[0083] Another aspect of the present invention relates to a method
of identifying a candidate plant suitable for breeding that
displays a delayed leaf senescence and/or enhanced yield phenotype.
The method involves analyzing the candidate plant for the presence,
in its genome, of an inactivated NAP gene. In one embodiment of the
present invention, the method identifies a candidate plant suitable
for breeding that displays a delayed leaf senescence phenotype. In
another embodiment of the present invention, the method identifies
a candidate plant suitable for breeding that displays an enhanced
yield phenotype. In yet another embodiment of the present
invention, the method identifies a candidate plant suitable for
breeding that displays a delayed leaf senescence and enhanced yield
phenotype. Because NAP gene promotes leaf senescence, if any
breeding line contains a mutated NAP gene, this line will display
significantly delayed leaf senescence and/or an enhanced yield
phenotype. If this line is used as a parental line for breeding
purposes, the NAP gene can be used as a molecular marker for
selecting progenies that contain the non-functional NAP gene.
Accordingly, the NAP gene can be used as a molecular marker for
breeding agronomic crops with a delayed senescence and enhanced
yield. Alternatively, the NAP gene can be used as a molecular
marker for breeding vegetables and flowers with delayed senescence
(that do not necessarily have any concerns regarding yield).
EXAMPLES
[0084] The following examples are provided to illustrate
embodiments of the present invention but are by no means intended
to limit its scope.
Example 1
Plant Materials and Growth Conditions
[0085] Arabidopsis plants were grown at 23.degree. C. with 60%
relative humidity under constant light (150 .mu.mmol m.sup.-2
s.sup.-1 light from a mixture of fluorescent and incandescent
bulbs). Seeds were sown on Petri dishes containing one-half
strength of Murashige and Skoog salts, 0.8% (w/v) phytoagar (Sigma,
St. Louis, Mo.), and appropriate antibiotics. After imbibition, the
seeds were kept at 4.degree. C. overnight. Two-week-old seedlings
were transplanted to Cornell mix soils (3 parts peat moss: 2 parts
vermiculite: 1 part perlite; Tower Road Green house, Cornell
University, Ithaca, N.Y.).
[0086] Arabidopsis thaliana ecotype Columbia-0 was used. The T-DNA
insertion lines, the inducible overexpression lines, and the
complementation lines were grown side by side with wild-type and
other control lines unless indicated otherwise.
Example 2
Isolation of T-DNA Insertions Within AtNAP
[0087] Two Arabidopsis lines for T-DNA insertions in AtNAP,
SALK.sub.--005010 (line 1) and SALK.sub.--004077 (line 2) were
obtained from the Salk T-DNA collection (Alonso et al.,
"Genome-Wide Insertional Mutagenesis of Arabidopsis Thaliana,"
Science 301:653-657 (2003), which is hereby incorporated by
reference in its entirety). A PCR-based method was used to identify
homozygous mutant plants. Genomic DNA was prepared from a small
piece of leaf using a modified CTAB method (Murray et al., "Rapid
Isolation of High Molecular Weight Plant DNA," Nucleic Acids Res
8:4321-4325 (1980), which is hereby incorporated by reference in
its entirety). Briefly, 50-100 mg fresh leaf tissue was ground in a
1.5-ml microcentrifuge tube with a Craftsman 9-inch drill press
(Sears, Roebuck and Co., Hoffman Estates, Ill.). The powdered
samples were incubated at 55.degree. C. for 30 min after 500 .mu.l
2.times. extraction buffer (0.7 M NaCl, 1% w/v CTAB, 50 mM Tris (pH
8.0), 10 mM EDTA, 1% beta-ME added fresh) was added. After
incubation, 500 .mu.l chloroform:isoamyl alcohol 24:1 was added and
mixed, and the samples were centrifuged for 10 min at 13,000 g. The
aqueous phase (approximately 500 .mu.l) was transferred to a new
microfuge tube and 500 .mu.l isopropanol was added to precipitate
genomic DNA. PCR was used to amplify the genomic DNAs. The PCR
conditions were as follows: 35 cycles with each cycle consisting of
94.degree. C. for 30 sec, 55.degree. C. for 30 sec, and 72.degree.
C. for 1 min. T-DNA left border primer G1099 (5'-GCGTGGACCGC
TTGCTGCAACT-3'; SEQ ID NO: 14) and gene-specific primers G1027
(5'-ATCAT GGAAG TAACTTCCCAATC-3'; SEQ ID NO: 15) and G1028
(5'-TTCAGTTCTTC TCTCTGCTTC-3'; SEQ ID NO: 16) for line 1, G1273
(5'-GGCCATTTTCTACGCT ACCT-3'; SEQ ID NO: 17) and G1123
(5'-CTTCCATGGTTTTCAGACAATTTAG-3'; SEQ ID NO: 18) for line 2 were
used in the PCR reactions.
Example 3
Plasmid Construction
[0088] The GFP-AtNAP expression plasmid pGL1185 was generated by
cloning AtNAP coding region into pRTL2-S65TGFP (Lin et al.,
"Arabidopsis FHY3/FAR1 Gene Family and Distinct Roles of Its
Members in Light Control of Arabidopsis Development," Plant
Physiol. 136:4010-4022 (2004), which is hereby incorporated by
reference in its entirety). The coding region without the stop
codon was amplified via PCR reaction using primers G1526
(5'-TAGTCGACAGTTCCTG TTCTATTAGATTG-3'; SEQ ID NO: 19; the
underlined section is an engineered SalI site) and G1527
(5'-TATCATGAACTTAAACATCGCTTGACG-3'; SEQ ID NO: 20; the underlined
section is an engineered BspHI site). Pfu polymerase (Stratagene,
La Jolla, Calif.) was used and the PCR product was sequenced. The
PCR product cut with SalI and BspHI was cloned into pRTL2-S65TGFP
at XhoI and NcoI sites.
[0089] For inducible overexpression of AtNAP, the 320 bp fragment
of 6.times.GAL4 UAS and 35S TATA region from pTA7001 (Aoyama et
al., "A Glucocorticoid-Mediated Transcriptional Induction System in
Transgenic Plants," Plant J 11:605-612 (1997), which is hereby
incorporated by reference in its entirety) was cloned into a binary
vector called pPZP211 (Hajdukiewicz et al., "The Small, Versatile
pPZP Family of Agrobacterium Binary Vectors For Plant
Transformation," Plant Mol Biol 25:989-994 (1994), which is hereby
incorporated by reference in its entirety) to form pGL1152. The
full length cDNA of AtNAP (907 bp, including 43 bp 5' UTR region
and 57 bp 3' UTR region) was amplified with primers G1100
(5'-CACTAGTTCCTGTTCTATTAGATTG-3'; SEQ ID NO: 21; the underlined
section is an engineered SpeI site) and G1101
(5'-GCTGCAGTAACTTTTCAAGCACATC-3'; SEQ ID NO: 22; the underlined
section is an engineered PstI site) using Pfu polymerase. The PCR
product, after an A-tailing procedure described by the manufacturer
(Promega, Madison, Wis.), was cloned into the pGEM-T vector
(Promega) to form pGL1165. The plasmid was then sequenced. pGL1165
was digested with SpeI and PstI and the released AtNAP coding
region was subcloned into pGL1152, resulting in pGL1167.
[0090] For the complementation test involving the Arabidopsis
wild-type AtNAP, a 3166-bp genomic DNA containing the promoter
(1961 bp) and coding region (1205 bp) of AtNAP was PCR amplified
with primers G1628 (5'-GCGTCATC TCATCCTAATCCTCAT-3'; SEQ ID NO: 23)
and G1629 (5'-CGTGACTTCGTCT TATCATGCTG-3'; SEQ ID NO: 24) using Pfu
polymerase, and cloned into pGEM-T after A-tailing, to form pGL1186
that was subsequently sequenced. pGL1186 was digested with SacII,
followed by treatment with T4 DNA polymerase (NEB, Beverly, Mass.)
to remove the 3' overhangs to form blunt ends. The plasmid was
further digested with SacI and the released AtNAP was cloned into
the binary vector pPZP221 (Hajdukiewicz et al., "The Small,
Versatile pPZP Family of Agrobacterium Binary Vectors For Plant
Transformation," Plant Mol Biol 25:989-994 (1994), which is hereby
incorporated by reference in its entirety) at the SacI and SmaI
sites. The construct was named pGL1199.
[0091] When using the rice (Oryza sativa, japonica cultivar group)
homolog of AtNAP (Os NAP) for complementation, primers G1807
(5'-TTCTGCAGCGTCAT CTCATCCTAATCCTCAT-3'; SEQ ID NO: 25; the
underlined section is an engineered PstI site) and G1808
(5'-GTTACTTCCATGGTTTTCAGACAATTTAG-3'; SEQ ID NO: 26; the underlined
section is an engineered NcoI site) were used to PCR amplify the
AtNAP promoter region. After an A-tailing procedure, the 2 kb PCR
product was cloned into pGEM-T to form pGL1193. Genomic fragment
containing the coding region of OsNAP (NP.sub.--912423) was PCR
amplified using primers G1805 (5'-TTC CATGGTTCTGTCGAACCCG-3'; SEQ
ID NO: 27; the underlined section is an engineered NcoI site) and
G1666 (5'-GATCTAGACGAAGAACGAGCTATCA G-3'; SEQ ID NO: 28). The 1.8
kb PCR product was cloned into pGEM-T to form pGL1191. The plasmids
were sequenced. OsNAP released from pGL1191 upon NcoI digestion was
then cloned into pGL1193 to form pGL1195. The 3.8 kb chimeric gene
was then released from pGL1195 after digestion with SacI and ApaI
(3' overhangs removed by T4 DNA polymerase treatment) and cloned
into pZP221 at SacI and SmaI to form pGL1197. A nos terminator was
added to the end of the chimeric gene in pGL1197 at the XbaI site
to form pGL1800.
[0092] For complementation test involving the kidney bean
(Phaseolus vulgaris) NAP homolog (PvNAP), primers G1807 (see above)
and G1809 (5'-AAGTCGACGATTTTCAGACAATTTAGAAAACAATC-3'; SEQ ID NO:
29; the underlined section is an engineered SalI site) were used to
PCR amplify the AtNAP promoter region. The 2 kb PCR product was
cloned into pGEM-T to form pGL1194. The genomic fragment containing
the coding region of PvNAP (AAK84884) was PCR amplified using
primers G1806 (5'-AAGTCGACATGGATGCTACCACACCC TC-3'; SEQ ID NO: 30;
the underlined section is an engineered SalI site) and G1668
(5'-GATCTAGATGGACGAAGCTTATCGTC-3'; SEQ ID NO: 31). The 1.3 kb PCR
product was cloned into pGEM-T to form pGL1190. The plasmids were
sequenced for sequence confirmation. The PvNAP coding region
released from pGL1190 by SalI was then cloned into pGL1194 to form
pGL1196. The 3.1 kb chimeric gene was released from pGL1196 by PstI
and cloned into pPZP221, forming pGL1198. A nos terminator was
added to the end of the chimeric gene in pGL1198 at the XbaI site
to form pGL1801.
Example 4
Agrobacterium and Plant Transformation
[0093] The above constructs in binary vectors (pGL1167, pGL1199,
pGL1800 and pGL1801) were transferred into Agrobacterium
tumefaciens strain ABI as previously described in He et al., "A
Gene Encoding an Acyl Hydrolase is Involved in Leaf Senescence in
Arabidopsis," Plant Cell 14:805-815 (2002), which is hereby
incorporated by reference in its entirety. Similarly, pTA7001 was
transferred into A. tumefaciens strain LBA4404. The Agrobacterium
cells containing the respective constructs were then used to
transform Arabidopsis ecotype Columbia-0 or the atnap null mutant
plants via vacuum infiltration (Bechtold et al., "In Planta
Agrobacterium-Mediated Gene Transfer by Infiltration of Adult
Arabidopsis Plants," C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris 316:1194-1199 (1993),
which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety).
Transgenic plants were selected on plates containing 50 mg/l
kanamycin (for pGL1167 transformants), 80 mg/l gentamycin (pGL1199,
pGL1800 and pGL1801 transformants) or 25 mg/l hygromycin (pTA7001
transformants). Arabidopsis plants harboring pGL1167 were crossed
with plants harboring pTA7001 and the hybrids were selected on
plates containing both kanamycin (50 mg/l) and hygromycin (25
mg/l).
Example 5
RNA Gel Blot and RT-PCR Analyses
[0094] Total RNA extraction from Arabidopsis leaves and RNA gel
blot analysis were performed as described in He et al., "A Gene
Encoding an Acyl Hydrolase is Involved in Leaf Senescence in
Arabidopsis," Plant Cell 14:805-815 (2002), which is hereby
incorporated by reference in its entirety. The hybridization was
performed at 65.degree. C. The Ambion RetroScript Kit (Ambion,
Austin, Tex.) was used to perform RT-PCR analysis according the
manufacturer's instruction. The QuantumRNA.TM. Universal 18S
Internal Standard Kit (Ambion) was used for equal loading control.
DNA fragments for making related hybridization probes were PCR
amplified using the following primers: G1027 and G1028 (see above)
for AtNAP, G10 (5'-CAGCTGC GGATGTTGTTG-3'; SEQ ID NO: 32) and G246
(5'-CCACTTTCT CCCCATTTTG-3'; SEQ ID NO: 33) for SAG12, G9
(5'-GCAACCAAAGGAGCCA TG-3'; SEQ ID NO: 34) and G16
(5'-GTTTGGCCAACTAGTCTGC-3'; SEQ ID NO: 35) for SAG13, G1148 (5'-AG
TAATGGCTTCCTCTATGC-3'; SEQ ID NO: 36) and G1149
(5'-GGCTTGTAGGCAATGAAACT-3'; SEQ ID NO: 37) for RuBISCO small
subunit gene RBCS, G1665 (5'-ATCCCTTCCATTTCCG AC-3'; SEQ ID NO: 38)
and G1666 (see above) for OsNAP, G1667 (5'-CTGGGTCTTGTG CAGAAT-3';
SEQ ID NO: 39) and G1668 (see above) for PvNAP. Some of the primers
were also used for related RT-PCR analysis.
Example 6
Transient Gene Expression in Onion Epidermal Cells
[0095] Onion (Allium cepa) epidermal cells were transfected with
pGL1185 using helium biolistic gun transformation system (Bio-Rad,
Hercules, Calif.) as described in Lin et al., "Arabidopsis
FHY3/FAR1 Gene Family and Distinct Roles of Its Members in Light
Control of Arabidopsis Development," Plant Physiol. 136:4010-4022
(2004), which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety,
and incubated in light or darkness for 24-48 h at 22.degree. C. The
subcellular localization of GFP fusion proteins was visualized with
a fluorescence microscope.
Example 7
Glucocorticoid Treatments
[0096] The glucocorticoid treatments were performed as described by
Aoyama et al., "A Glucocorticoid-Mediated Transcriptional Induction
System in Transgenic Plants," Plant J 11:605-612 (1997), which is
hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. Two-week-old
plants grown in pots were sprayed with 30 .mu.M dexamethasone
(DEX). The plants were sprayed once a day for 2 days and incubated
for two additional days. F.sub.v/F.sub.m ratios of leaves of these
plants were measured, and leaves were harvested for molecular
analysis.
Example 8
Dark-Induced Leaf Senescence
[0097] Leaf number 6 from a 3-week-old Arabidopsis plant was
excised and placed on moisturized filter papers in Petri dishes
with adaxial side facing up. The plates were kept in darkness at
23.degree. C. for 4 days.
Example 9
Measurements of Chlorophyll Content, Fluorescence, and Ion
Leakage
[0098] Chlorophyll was extracted and quantitated as described
previously in He et al., "A Gene Encoding an Acyl Hydrolase is
Involved in Leaf Senescence in Arabidopsis," Plant Cell 14:805-815
(2002), which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Fluorescence in leaves was measured using a portable modulated
chlorophyll fluorometer (model: OS1-FL) according to the
manufacturer's instructions (Opti-Sciences, Tyngsboro, Mass.). The
ratio of variable fluorescence to maximal fluorescence
(F.sub.v/F.sub.m) of each leaf was quantified directly using the
fluorometer's test mode 1. For ion leakage, leaves were immersed
into deionized distilled water, shaken in a 25.degree. C. water
bath for 30 min, and the conductivity was measured using a digital
conductivity meter (Fisher Scientific Traceable, Hampton, N.H.).
Samples were boiled for 10 min and then monitored for conductivity.
The percentage of the first measurement over the second measurement
was used as the membrane leakage indicator.
Example 10
Data Mining from the Genevestigator Microarray Database
[0099] The "Gene Atlas" program of the microarray database
Genevestigator (www.genevestigator.ethz.ch) was used to search
expression levels of AtNAP (At1g69490) in different plant tissues.
The program "Response Viewer" was used to search expression change
and expression levels of AtNAP under different treatments. To run
both programs, chip type "ATH1:22k array" for "wild type only" were
used. When running "Response Viewer", chips from all sources were
selected in "ATH1:22k array" for "wild type only" chip type.
Example 11
Molecular Phylogenetic Analyses
[0100] The amino acid sequence of AtNAP was used to search
different genomic databases including GenBank
(http:/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/BLAST/ for soybean, kidney bean, rice,
nightshade, wheat, peach, tomato, petunia, and potato), the TIGR
plant genome databases (http://www.tigr.org/plantProjects.shtml for
maize and Medicago), and PopulusDB (http://www.populus.db.umu.se/
for Populus). The NAC family genes with highest sequence similarity
with AtNAP from different plant species including kidney bean
(Phaseolus vulgaris) (AAK84884), rice (Oryza sativa) (NP 912423),
soybean (Glycine max) (AAY46121), nightshade (Solanum demissum)
(AAU90314), Medicago truncatula (AC140030.sub.--19.1), Populus
trichocarpa (gene model gw1.X.1066.1), wheat (Triticum aestivum)
(AAU08785), maize (Zea mays) (AZM5.sub.--18141), peach (Prunus
persica) (CAG28971), tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) (AAU43923),
potato (Solanum tuberosum) (AAU12055), and petunia
(Petunia.times.hybrida) (AAM34773), were used for molecular
phylogenetic analyses. The kidney bean and rice NAP homologs, which
were further studied for their expression patterns and used to
transfer atnap mutant in heterogeneous complementation tests, are
referred to, in the present application, as PvNAP, and OsNAP,
respectively. Predicted amino acid sequences of AtNAP homologs from
different plant species were first aligned using the alignment
program CLUSTALW (Chenna et al., "Multiple Sequence Alignment With
the Clustal Series of Programs," Nucleic Acids Res 31:3497-3500
(2003), which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety)
with the default parameter values (alignment algorithm: full; CPU
mode: single; Kimura correction: off; output: alnl; output order:
aligned; score type: percent; ignore gaps in alignment: off; Number
of sequences: 13; FIG. 1). The alignments were then used to produce
the phylogeny using the phylogenetic analysis program MEGA3.1
(Kumar et al., "MEGA3: Integrated Software for Molecular
Evolutionary Genetics Analysis and Sequence Alignment," Brief
Bioinform 5:150-163 (2004), which is hereby incorporated by
reference in its entirety). Parameters used in this analysis were:
data type: amino acid; analysis: phylogeny reconstruction; method:
neighbor jointing method; gaps/missing data: complete deletion;
model: amino:Poisson correction; substitutions to include: all;
pattern among lineages: same (homogeneous). The bootstrap values
for nodes in the phylogenetic tree are from 1000 replications.
Example 12
AtNAP is Upregulated During Leaf Senescence in Arabidopsis
[0101] Digital expression profile analysis of the Arabidopsis leaf
senescence dbEST and microarray analysis (Buchanan-Wollaston et
al., "Comparative Transcriptome Analysis Reveals Significant
Differences in Gene Expression and Signalling Pathways Between
Developmental and Dark/Starvation-Induced Senescence in
Arabidopsis," The Plant Journal 42:567-585 (2005), which is hereby
incorporated by reference in its entirety) revealed that AtNAP is
one of the most abundantly transcribed transcription factor genes
in senescing leaves (Guo et al., "Transcriptome of Arabidopsis Leaf
Senescence," Plant Cell and Environment 27:521-549 (2004), which is
hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety). RNA gel blot
analysis showed that the expression of AtNAP in rosette leaves of
Arabidopsis was closely associated with the progression of leaf
senescence (FIGS. 2(a)-(c)). When leaves from the same
phyllotactical position (leaf number 6 from the bottom of the
plant) were studied, RNA messenger (mRNA) of AtNAP was detected
only when the leaves started senescing (2-3 weeks after emergence;
FIG. 2(a)). Leaf senescence in Arabidopsis grown under
non-stressful conditions was age-dependent and progressed
sequentially from the oldest leaf (the first leaf at the bottom of
a plant) to the top young leaves. As shown in FIG. 2(b), AtNAP
transcript was detected in the old, senescing leaves, but not in
the young, green leaves. In a given leaf, senescence started from
the leaf tip and progressed toward leaf base (petiole). The yellow
tip showed stronger AtNAP expression than the proximal part of a
leaf (FIG. 2(c)).
Example 13
AtNAP is Targeted to Nuclei
[0102] Although AtNAP is predicted to be a nuclear protein by
PredictNLS (Cokol et al., "Finding Nuclear Localization Signals,"
EMBO Rep 1:411-415 (2000), which is hereby incorporated by
reference in its entirety) and PSORT (Nakai et al., "A Knowledge
Base for Predicting Protein Localization Sites in Eukaryotic
Cells," Genomics 14:897-911 (1992), which is hereby incorporated by
reference in its entirety), it does not have any obvious nuclear
localization signal. To determine the subcellular localization of
AtNAP, a chimeric gene containing a GFP-AtNAP construct driven by
the 35S promoter was transiently expressed in onion (Allium cepa)
epidermal cells using particle bombardment. Subcellular
localization of the GFP fusion protein was visualized with a
fluorescence microscope. DAPI (4',6'-diamidino 2-phenylindole)
staining of DNA revealed GFP-AtNAP protein localization in the
nuclei, suggesting that AtNAP is a nuclear protein (FIGS.
3(a)-(d)).
Example 14
The AtNAP Expression is Knocked Out in One T-DNA Line and Knocked
Down in Another Line
[0103] The AtNAP gene consists of three exons and encodes a protein
with 268 amino acids (FIG. 4(a)). Two Salk T-DNA lines (Columbia
background) were obtained from the Arabidopsis Biological Resource
Center (ABRC) at Ohio State University (Alonso et al., "Genome-Wide
Insertional Mutagenesis of Arabidopsis Thaliana," Science
301:653-657 (2003), which is hereby incorporated by reference in
its entirety). Line 1 (SALK.sub.--005010) has a T-DNA insertion in
the second exon, and line 2 (SALK.sub.--004077) has a T-DNA
insertion in the promoter region (at -227 from the translation
start site; FIG. 4(a)). RNA gel blot analysis showed that the AtNAP
transcript in senescent leaves of the homozygous line 1 was not
detectable, while AtNAP transcript levels in senescent leaves of
line 2 plants was reduced to 5% of that in age-matched wild-type
leaves (FIG. 4(b)). This suggested that line 1 was an atnap null
mutant, while line 2 was a knockdown line.
Example 15
Leaf Senescence is Significantly Delayed in the AtNAP Null Mutant
Plants
[0104] To compare any phenotypic changes in growth and development
among line 1 (the atnap null mutant), line 2 (the atnap knockdown
mutant) and wild type (Columbia accession), these plants were grown
side by side in an Arabidopsis growth chamber. There were no
visible differences in growth and development, except for the
significantly delayed leaf senescence phenotype in the atnap null
plants, and the less significantly retarded leaf senescence
phenotype in the atnap knockdown plants (FIGS. 5(a)-(d)).
[0105] The atnap null mutant plants were further characterized. As
shown in the mortality curves in FIG. 6(a), leaves of the atnap
null mutant plants senesced later than those of wild-type plants.
Consistent with a delayed visible yellowing phenotype (FIGS.
5(a)-(d)), chlorophyll levels in individual rosette leaves of the
null line were generally higher than in counterpart leaves of the
age-matched wild-type plants (FIG. 6(b)). The F.sub.v/F.sub.m
ratios in individual leaves of the null line were also higher than
in counterpart leaves of the age-matched wild-type plants (FIG.
6(c)). The F.sub.v/F.sub.m ratio reflects the photochemical quantum
efficiency of photosystem II, as well as the photoreduction
efficiency of the primary electron-accepting plastoquinone of
photosystem II. In contrast, ion leakage in individual leaves of
the null plants was less than that in wild-type plants (FIG. 6(d)).
Ion leakage is an indicator of intactness of plasma membrane. The
plasma membrane of a senescing cell becomes fragile and leaky.
[0106] The expression of SAG12 and the Rubisco small subunit gene
(RBCS) was also monitored. SAG12 is a highly senescence-specific
gene in Arabidopsis and has been widely used as a molecular marker
for leaf senescence, while RBCS is a typical senescence
downregulated gene. As shown in FIG. 6(e), the expression of SAG12
was readily detectable in leaf number 7 of a 30-day-old wild-type
plant, but it was barely detectable in leaf number 4 of an
age-matched null plant.
[0107] All the data described above indicated that the leaf
senescence process was dramatically delayed in the atnap mutant
plants (approximately 10 days).
Example 16
AtNAP Restores the atnap Null Mutant Plants to Wild Type
[0108] To confirm that the T-DNA insertional null mutation in AtNAP
was responsible for the delayed senescence phenotype, a
complementation test experiment was performed. The wild-type copy
of AtNAP, including the 2 kb promoter region, was introduced into
the atnap null mutant plants. The introduced AtNAP was expressed in
senescing leaves (see "nap+AtNAP" panel in FIG. 7(a)). The
senescence phenotype in leaves that were either detached or in
planta was characterized. The leaves detached from the AtNAP
complemental lines senesced in the same manner as those leaves from
wild type did, both phenotypically (FIG. 7(b)), and in terms of the
F.sub.v/F.sub.m ratio (FIG. 7(c)). In planta leaves of the
complemental plants also senesced in the same manner as wild-type
leaves (FIG. 7(d)). These data confirmed that loss of AtNAP
expression in the atnap null mutant was the only cause of the
delayed senescence phenotype.
Example 17
Inducible Overexpression of AtNAP Causes Precocious Senescence
[0109] The role of AtNAP in leaf senescence was further
investigated by performing gain-of-function analysis. Considering
the fact that constitutive expression of this gene might be lethal,
the chemical inducible gene expression system (Aoyama et al., "A
Glucocorticoid-Mediated Transcriptional Induction System in
Transgenic Plants," Plant J 11:605-612 (1997), which is hereby
incorporated by reference in its entirety) was used. First,
transgenic lines that harbored either the pTA7001 or pGL1167
constructs (FIG. 8(a)) were generated. pTA7001 contained the
chimeric transcription factor GVG consisting of a DNA-binding
domain of the yeast transcription factor GAL4, a transactivation
domain of the herpes simplex virus transcriptional regulatory
protein VP16 and a glucocorticoid receptor domain (FIG. 8(a)),
while pGL1167 was a construct in which AtNAP is driven by a
promoter containing six tandem copies of the GAL4 upstream
activation sequence (FIG. 8(a)). Treatment with dexamethasone (DEX,
a synthetic glucocorticoid) caused precocious leaf yellowing (FIG.
8(b)) and a significant reduction of the F.sub.v/F.sub.m ratio
(FIG. 8(c)) in F1 plants (pGL1167 homozygous plants.times.pTA7001
homozygous plants) but not in controls (wild type, plants
containing pGL1167 or pTA7001 only). RNA blot analysis showed that
AtNAP expression was strongly induced in the F.sub.1 plants but not
in the controls (FIG. 8(d)). The precocious leaf yellowing was a
senescence process because SAG12 and SAG13 were both expressed
(FIG. 8(d)). SAG12 and SAG13 are leaf senescence-specific marker
genes. These data suggested that AtNAP was sufficient to promote
leaf senescence.
Example 18
AtNAP Homologs in Rice and Kidney Bean are Specifically Expressed
in Senescing Leaves
[0110] The amino acid sequence of AtNAP was analyzed with the use
of different genomic databases such as the GenBank
(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/BLAST/), the TIGR plant genome
databases (http://www.tigr.org/plantProjects.shtml), and PopulusDB
(http://www.populus.db.umu.se/), and genes with high sequence
similarity were identified from many different plant species (FIG.
9(a)). Among them are the NAC family transcription factor PvNAP
(256 amino acids; AAK84884) from the dicot kidney bean (Phaseolus
vulgaris) with 66% identity, and the NAC family transcription
factor OsNAP (392 amino acids; NP.sub.--912423) from the monocot
rice (Oryza sativa) with 70% identity (FIG. 9(b)). It was
hypothesized that those homologs were functional orthologs of
AtNAP. To test this hypothesis, it was first examined whether PvNAP
and OsNAP shared the same leaf senescence-specific expression
pattern as AtNAP. Kidney bean leaves at five distinct developmental
stages, ranging from young leaves to entirely yellow leaves (FIG.
9(c)), were used for RNA gel blot analysis of PvNAP expression. As
shown in FIG. 9(c), PvNAP transcript was detected in senescing
leaves only. The expression of OsNAP was also shown to be
senescence specific in rice leaves (FIG. 9(d)).
Example 19
AtNAP Homologs in Rice and Kidney Bean are Able to Restore the
Arabidopsis atnap Null Mutant to Wild Type
[0111] To further test the hypothesis that the homologs are
functional orthologs of the Arabidopsis AtNAP, heterogeneous
complementation tests were performed. The 2 kb AtNAP promoter was
used to direct the expression of the coding region of OsNAP or
PvNAP. These genes were expressed in senescent leaves of respective
complementation lines (FIG. 7(a)). Phenotypically, fully expanded
non-senescing leaves detached from wild-type plants became
senescent after being incubated in darkness for 4 days. In
contrast, age-matched leaves from atnap null mutant (line 1)
remained green (FIG. 7(b)) and photosynthetically active (FIG.
7(c)). However, the leaves of the null plants complemented with
OsNAP or PvNAP senesced like those of wild type (FIG. 7(b)).
Similar observations were obtained when natural leaf senescence was
examined in intact plants (FIG. 7(d)). Similarly to AtNAP, OsNAP
and PvNAP were able to restore the Arabidopsis null mutant to wild
type, which suggests that OsNAP and PvNAP are functional orthologs
of AtNAP.
Example 20
RT-PCR Analysis of Soybean GmNAP and Maize ZmNAP During Leaf
Senescence
[0112] RT-PCR analysis of the expression of the AtNAP homologs in
soybean (Glycine max) (AAY46121) (GmNAP) and maize (Zea mays)
(AZM5.sub.--18141) (ZmNAP) was performed. As shown in FIGS.
10(a)-(b), both GmNAP and ZmNAP were upregulated during leaf
senescence of soybean and maize, respectively.
Example 21
Use of RNA Interference to Suppress the AtNAP Homologs in Soybean
(GmNAP) and Maize (ZmNAP)
[0113] The NAP gene is a master regulator that promotes leaf
senescence. RNA interference (RNAi) approach was used to silence
this gene in soybean and maize so that leaf senescence would be
dramatically delayed. RNAi involves the use of double strand RNA
(dsRNA) that can efficiently cause silencing of target gene and
has, thus, been widely used in genetics. The dsRNA construct
contains inverted repeats of a small fragment of the gene of
interest, i.e., GmNAP or ZmNAP, so that, upon transcription, the
RNA transcript will pair each other to form double strand between
the inverted repeat sequences. The dsRNA triggers the cellular
machinery to destroy any mRNA whose sequence matches with the
repeat sequence. Therefore, RNAi constructs were prepared to
suppress the expression of GmNAP and ZmNAP in soybean and maize,
respectively, where the suppression of the homolog was expected to
lead to the significant delay of leaf senescence in the respective
crops.
[0114] For GmNAP RNAi, primers G2132 (5'-TCTAGAGGCAAAAGAGGA
CTAC-3'; SEQ ID NO: 40; the underlined section is an engineered Xba
I site) and G2133 (5'-GGATCCTGGTACTTCCCTGAATCT-3'; SEQ ID NO: 41;
the underlined section is an engineered BamH I site) were used to
PCR amplify a 271-bp fragment of the 3' end of GmNAP cDNA. The PCR
product was cloned into pGEM-T (Promega, Madison, Wis.) to form
plasmid pGL1818. pGL1818 was cut by Xba I after BamH I digestion
and Klenow fill-in. The released GmNAP cDNA fragment was cloned
into a binary vector pGL1100 at Xba I and Spe I (filled-in) sites,
to form pGL1820. pGL1100 contains a 690-bp intron sequence of
Arabidopsis AtWRKY75 between the 35S promoter and the RBS (Rubisco
small subunit gene) terminator. Another copy of the GmNAP cDNA
fragment released by Sac II and Xba I (filled-in) from pGL1818 was
cloned into pGL1820 at Sac II and Hind III (filled-in) sites to
form pGL1822 such that pGL1822 contains two copies of the 271-bp
GmNAP cDNA in opposite orientation separated by the 690-bp intron.
The 35S promoter-RNAi with intron-RBS terminator in pGL1822 was PCR
amplified with primers G205 (5'-GGAATTCGCCCGGGGATCTCCTTTG-3'; SEQ
ID NO: 45; the underlined section is an engineered EcoR I site) and
G206 (5'-TAGGCCTTGATGCATGTTGTCAATC AATTG-3'; SEQ ID NO: 42; the
underlined section is an engineered Stu I site). The PCR product
was cut by EcoR I and Stu I and cloned into a binary vector at the
EcoR I and Hind III (filled-in) sites, to form pGL 1823 (FIG.
11(a)).
[0115] The above GmNAP RNAi silencing construct was used to
transform soybean genotype Thorne (Ohio State University) using the
soybean cotyledonary-node Agrobacterium-mediated transformation
system as described at the website
(http://www.biotech.unl.edu/transgenic/protocols.html). Eighteen
transgenic lines were generated.
[0116] For ZmNAP RNAi, primers G2136 (5'-TCTAGACGGAGCTGTTCA AC-3';
SEQ ID NO: 43; the underlined section is an engineered Xba I site)
and G2137 (5'-AAGCTTAGAGTGAAGCGGCAT-3'; SEQ ID NO: 44; the
underlined section is an engineered Hind III site) were used to PCR
amplify a 410-bp fragment of the 3' end of ZmNAP cDNA. The PCR
product was cloned into pGEM-T to form pGL1817. The plasmid of
pGL1817 was cut by Xba I after Hind III digestion and Klenow
fill-in. The released ZmNAP cDNA fragment was cloned into pGL1100
at Xba I and Spe I (filled-in) sites, to form pGL1819. Another copy
of the ZmNAP cDNA fragment released by Sac II and Xba I (filled-in)
from pGL1817 was cloned into pGL1819 at Sac II and Hind III
(filled-in) sites to form pGL1821 such that pGL1821 contains two
copies of the 410 bp ZmNAP cDNA in opposite orientation separated
by the 690-bp intron sequence of Arabidopsis AtWRKY75 (FIG.
11(b)).
[0117] The above ZmNAP RNAi silencing construct was transferred
into Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain ABI to prepare them for plant
transformation.
Example 22
AtNAP Homologs in Maize and Soybean are Able to Restore the
Arabidopsis atnap Null Mutant to Wild Type
[0118] Using a similar strategy as described in Example 19 above,
it was examined whether maize and soybean NAPs, i.e., ZmNAP and
GmNAP, respectively, can complement the Arabidopsis atnap null
mutant. The 2-kb AtNAP promoter was used to direct the expression
of the coding region of ZmNAP or GmNAP. These genes were expressed
in senescent leaves of respective complementation lines. Natural
leaf senescence was examined in intact plants, where phenotypically
leaves of wild-type plants became senescent (FIGS. 12(a)-(b)). In
contrast, leaves of atnap null mutant remained green (FIGS.
12(a)-(b)). However, the leaves of the null plants complemented
with ZmNAP or GmNAP senesced like those of wild type (FIGS.
12(a)-(b)). Therefore, ZmNAP and GmNAP were able to restore the
Arabidopsis null mutant to wild type.
[0119] Leaf senescence limits crop yield and biomass accumulation.
In soybean, insufficient phosphate (Pi) nutrient during soybean
seed development promotes leaf senescence. When leaf senescence was
significantly delayed (for eight days) by supplemental Pi via stem
infusions, soybean grain yield was increased as much as 3-fold
(Grabau et al., "P Nutrition During Seed Development: Leaf
Senescence, Pod Retention, and Seed Weight of Soybean," Plant
Physiol. 82:1008-1012 (1986), which is hereby incorporated by
reference in its entirety). Both field and greenhouse experiments
also proved that leaf senescence limits soybean yield by
restricting the seed filling period (Hayati et al., "Carbon and
Nitrogen Supply During Seed Filling and Leaf Senescence in
Soybean," Crop Sci. 35:1063-1069 (1995), which is hereby
incorporated by reference in its entirety).
[0120] The effect of delayed leaf senescence on yields has also
been observed in maize and many other crops. For example, a
retrospective analysis over 50 years (1930-1980) of hybrid maize
data in US revealed that late onset of leaf senescence contributed
to significant increases in maize yields (Duvick, "Genetic
Contribution to Yield Gains of U.S. Hybrid Maize 1930-1980," in
Fehr, ed., Genetic Contributions to Yield Gains of Five Major Crop
Plants, vol. 7, Crop Science Society of America, Madison, Wis., pp.
15-47 (1984), which is hereby incorporated by reference in its
entirety). Similar analysis of nearly 30 years (1959-1988) of maize
hybrid yields in Ontario, Canada, also reached the same conclusion
(Tollenaar, "Physiological-Basis of Genetic-Improvement of Maize
Hybrids in Ontario from 1959 to 1988," Crop Sci. 31:119-124 (1991),
which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety). Further
physiological and genetic studies on the relationship between leaf
senescence and maize yields have confirmed the correlation of
delaying leaf senescence and yield enhancement (Valentinuz and
Tollenaar, "Vertical Profile of Leaf Senescence During the
Grain-Filling Period in Older and Newer Maize Hybrids," Crop. Sci.
44:827-835 (2004); Ougham et al., "The Genetic Control of
Senescence Revealed by Mapping Quantitative Trait Loci," in Gan,
ed., Senescence Processes in Plants, Blackwell Publishing, pp.
171-201 (2007), which are hereby incorporated by reference in their
entirety).
Example 23
Use of NAP Gene to Manipulate Leaf Senescence in Crops
[0121] Various molecular, genetic and genomic strategies have been
used to isolate genes that are differentially expressed during
senescence, and as a result, thousands of SAGs have been
identified. The structure and function of most SAGS have been
predicted bioinformatically. There are only a few of those genes
whose enzymatic activities have been shown biochemically, including
several RNases (Lers et al., "Senescence-Induced RNases in Tomato,"
Plant Molecular Biology 36:439-449 (1998), which is hereby
incorporated by reference in its entirety), a phospholipase D (Fan
et al., "Antisense Suppression of Phospholipase D Alpha Retards
Abscisic Acid- and Ethylene-Promoted Senescence of Postharvest
Arabidopsis Leaves," Plant Cell 9:2183-2196 (1997), which is hereby
incorporated by reference in its entirety), and an acyl hydrolase
(He et al., "A Gene Encoding an Acyl Hydrolase is Involved in Leaf
Senescence in Arabidopsis," Plant Cell 14:805-815 (2002), which is
hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety). Similarly, there
are only a few genes whose role in leaf senescence has been
investigated genetically. For example, the ABA-promoted senescence
in detached leaves of PLD.alpha.-antisense Arabidopsis plants was
delayed (Fan et al., "Antisense Suppression of Phospholipase D
Alpha Retards Abscisic Acid- and Ethylene-Promoted Senescence of
Postharvest Arabidopsis Leaves," Plant Cell 9:2183-2196 (1997),
which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety). The
Arabidopsis F-box gene ORE9 has also been shown to play a role in
leaf senescence because the ore9 mutant plants displayed increased
leaf longevity (Woo et al., "ORE9, An F-Box Protein That Regulates
Leaf Senescence in Arabidopsis," Plant Cell 13:1779-1790 (2001),
which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety). It has
previously shown that SAG101, a gene encoding an acyl hydrolase,
plays a significant role in leaf senescence in Arabidopsis; leaf
senescence is delayed for 4-5 days in the SAG101 antisense plants
(He et al., "A Gene Encoding an Acyl Hydrolase is Involved in Leaf
Senescence in Arabidopsis," Plant Cell 14:805-815 (2002), which is
hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety). In the present
application, it was shown that leaf senescence in the atnap null
mutant line was delayed for up to 10 days (FIGS. 5(a)-(d) and FIGS.
6(a)-(e)). The null phenotype was rescued by the wild type AtNAP,
confirming that the lack of AtNAP was responsible for the
retardation in leaf senescence in the null mutant plants. The role
of AtNAP in controlling leaf senescence was further confirmed by
gain-of-function analysis. Young leaves began yellowing as early as
2 days after the initial induction of the AtNAP overexpression, and
became completely senescent 4 days after the initial induction
(FIGS. 8(a)-(d)), suggesting that AtNAP was sufficient to cause
senescence.
[0122] The RNA gel blot analysis revealed that AtNAP was expressed
in senescing leaf cells (FIGS. 2(a)-(c)). Microarray data currently
available at Genevestigator (Zimmermann et al., "GENEVESTIGATOR.
Arabidopsis Microarray Database and Analysis Toolbox," Plant
Physiol 136:2621-2632 (2004), which is hereby incorporated by
reference in its entirety) also showed that AtNAP is mainly
expressed in senescent rosette leaves, cauline leaves, sepals and
petals (FIG. 13(a)) although very low levels of the AtNAP
expression in young seedlings and other parts of adult plants have
been detected (FIG. 13(b)). The AtNAP expression can be strongly
induced by inducer of programmed cell death (PCD) in cell
suspension, a process similar to leaf senescence. In contrast,
other senescence-promoting factors such as ethylene and ABA,
osmotic and salt stress only moderately induced the expression of
AtNAP while darkness, drought, oxidative stress, jasmonic acid and
salicylic acid did not have significant effects on AtNAP expression
levels (FIG. 13(b)). In the absence of external stressors,
initiation of leaf senescence is dependent on age and developmental
stage (Hensel et al., "Developmental and Age-Related Processes That
Influence the Longevity and Senescence of Photosynthetic Tissues in
Arabidoposis," Plant Cell 5:553-564 (1993); Nooden et al.,
"Correlative Controls of Senescence and Plant Death in Arabidopsis
Thaliana (Brassicaceae)," Journal of Experimental Botany
52:2151-2159 (2001), which are hereby incorporated by reference in
their entirety). The data disclosed herein and the microarray data
suggest that AtNAP may be primarily up-regulated by age.
[0123] Although AtNAP is not readily induced by darkness
(Buchanan-Wollaston et al., "Comparative Transcriptome Analysis
Reveals Significant Differences in Gene Expression and Signalling
Pathways Between Developmental and Dark/Starvation-Induced
Senescence in Arabidopsis," The Plant Journal 42:567-585 (2005);
Lin et al., "Molecular Events in Senescing Arabidopsis Leaves,"
Plant Journal 39:612-628 (2004), which are hereby incorporated by
reference in their entirety), dark-induced senescence of detached
leaves was delayed in the atnap null mutant (FIG. 7(b)-(c)),
suggesting that AtNAP may function in dark-induced senescence
downstream of the dark-responsive signaling pathway. During natural
senescence of leaves on intact plants, AtNAP was only expressed in
leaf tissues that are already senescent (FIGS. 2(a)-(c)). These
data suggested that AtNAP is likely to play a key role in
regulating the common execution process of leaf senescence
downstream of various senescence-inducing pathways. Even though
expression of AtNAP may not necessarily be responsive to a
particular senescence-inducing factor, some of these factors may
need AtNAP to trigger the senescence syndrome. As a transcription
factor, AtNAP might control the leaf senescence process by
transcriptionally activating/repressing genes involved in the
execution of senescence.
[0124] Plant transcription factors of the same family often have
similar functions. At some developmental stages or cellular
processes, certain families of transcription factors may play
predominant roles (Liu et al., "Transcription Factors and Their
Genes in Higher Plants Functional Domains, Evolution and
Regulation," Eur J Biochem 262:247-257 (1999); Riechmann et al., "A
Genomic Perspective on Plant Transcription Factors," Curr Opin
Plant Biol 3:423-434 (2000), which are hereby incorporated by
reference in their entirety), such as the MADS box genes in
flowering development (Saedler et al., "MADS-Box Genes are Involved
in Floral Development and Evolution," Acta Biochim Pol 48:351-358
(2001), which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety)
and the WRKY genes in defense response (Ulker et al., "WRKY
Transcription Factors: From DNA Binding Towards Biological
Function," Current Opinion in Plant Biology 7:491-498 (2004), which
is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety). The
senescence-associated expression pattern of more than 20 other NAC
family members (Buchanan-Wollaston et al., "Comparative
Transcriptome Analysis Reveals Significant Differences in Gene
Expression and Signalling Pathways Between Developmental and
Dark/Starvation-Induced Senescence in Arabidopsis," The Plant
Journal 42:567-585 (2005); Guo et al., "Transcriptome of
Arabidopsis Leaf Senescence," Plant Cell and Environment 27:521-549
(2004), which are hereby incorporated by reference in their
entirety) suggests a general role of the NAC family genes in leaf
senescence. The evidence of transcriptional self-regulation (Xie et
al., "Arabidopsis NAC1 Transduces Auxin Signal Downstream of TIR1
to Promote Lateral Root Development," Genes Dev 14:3024-3036
(2000), which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety)
and inter-regulation (Vroemen et al., "The CUP-SHAPED COTYLEDON3
Gene is Required for Boundary and Shoot Meristem Formation in
Arabidopsis," Plant Cell 15:1563-1577 (2003), which is hereby
incorporated by reference in its entirety) between NAC members as
well as homodimerization (Ernst et al., "Structure of the Conserved
Domain of ANAC, a Member of the NAC Family of Transcription
Factors," EMBO Rep 5:297-303 (2004); Xie et al., "Arabidopsis NAC1
Transduces Auxin Signal Downstream of TIR1 to Promote Lateral Root
Development," Genes Dev 14:3024-3036 (2000), which are hereby
incorporated by reference in their entirety) and heterodimerization
(Hegedus et al., "Molecular Characterization of Brassica Napus NAC
Domain Transcriptional Activators Induced in Response to Biotic and
Abiotic Stress," Plant Mol Biol 53:383-397 (2003), which is hereby
incorporated by reference in its entirety) among NAC proteins
suggest possible regulatory networks of leaf senescence involving
many NACs.
[0125] Sequence homologs of AtNAP in kidney bean (a dicot) and rice
(a monocot) also displayed a leaf senescence-specific expression
pattern (FIG. 9(c)-(d)). Pv NAP and Os NAP were able to restore the
Arabidopsis atnap null mutant to wild type (FIGS. 7(a)-(d)). In
addition to rice and kidney bean, sequence homologs exist in a
variety of other plant species including soybean (Glycine max),
nightshade (Solanum demissum), Medicago truncatula, Populus
trichocarpa, wheat (Triticum aestivum), maize (Zea mays), peach
(Prunus persica), tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum), potato (Solanum
tuberosum), and petunia (Petunia.times.hybrida) (FIG. 9a). These
suggest that NAP may be a universal regulator in plant leaf
senescence. It is likely that knocking NAP out in other plant
species will cause a significant delay of leaf senescence, which
may be a new strategy for manipulating leaf senescence in
agriculturally important crops.
[0126] AtNAP was previously identified as an immediate target of
the floral homeotic genes APETALA3/PISTILLATAL that are essential
for petal and stamen formation (Sablowski et al., "A Homolog of NO
APICAL MERISTEM is an Immediate Target of the Floral Homeotic Genes
APETALA3/PISTILLATA," Cell 92:93-103 (1998), which is hereby
incorporated by reference in its entirety). In AtNAP antisense
lines, the first 2-4 flowers of the main and lateral inflorescences
had short stamens and their anthers often did not dehisce. No leaf
senescence phenotype was described (Sablowski et al., "A Homolog of
NO APICAL MERISTEM is an Immediate Target of the Floral Homeotic
Genes APETALA3/PISTILLATA," Cell 92:93-103 (1998), which is hereby
incorporated by reference in its entirety). In the experiments
disclosed in the present application, no developmental abnormities
other than the delayed leaf senescence in the two T-DNA mutant
lines were observed. This discrepancy may be due to different
Arabidopsis ecotypes that were used: Landsberg erecta (Sablowski et
al., "A Homolog of NO APICAL MERISTEM is an Immediate Target of the
Floral Homeotic Genes APETALA3/PISTILLATA," Cell 92:93-103 (1998),
which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety) vs.
Columbia in the present application. Leaf senescence is a trait
with great variations within Arabidopsis ecotypes and the molecular
regulation of leaf senescence may differ in different genetic
backgrounds (Levey et al., "Natural Variation in the Regulation of
Leaf Senescence and Relation to Other Traits in Arabidopsis," Plant
Cell and Environment 28:223-231 (2005), which is hereby
incorporated by reference in its entirety). This discrepancy may
also result from different research approaches employed; T-DNA
insertion mutation and antisense approach have shown completely
different roles of the phytochrome interacting factor 3 (Kim et
al., "Functional Characterization of Phytochrome Interacting Factor
3 in Phytochrome-Mediated Light Signal Transduction," Plant Cell
15:2399-2407 (2003); Ni, et al., "PIF3, a Phytochrome-Interacting
Factor Necessary for Normal Photoinduced Signal Transduction, is a
Novel Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Protein," Cell 95:657-667 (1998),
which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety).
[0127] Although the invention has been described in detail, for the
purpose of illustration, it is understood that such detail is for
that purpose and variations can be made therein by those skilled in
the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the
invention which is defined by the following claims.
Sequence CWU 1
1
451256PRTPhaseolus vulgaris 1Met Asp Ala Thr Thr Pro Ser Glu Leu
Pro Pro Gly Phe Arg Phe His 1 5 10 15 Pro Thr Asp Glu Glu Leu Ile
Val Tyr Tyr Leu Cys Asn Gln Ala Thr 20 25 30 Ser Lys Pro Cys Pro
Ala Ser Ile Ile Pro Glu Val Asp Leu Tyr Lys 35 40 45 Phe Asp Pro
Trp Glu Leu Pro Asp Lys Thr Glu Phe Gly Glu Asn Glu 50 55 60 Trp
Tyr Phe Phe Ser Pro Arg Asp Arg Lys Tyr Pro Asn Gly Val Arg 65 70
75 80 Pro Asn Arg Ala Thr Val Ser Gly Tyr Trp Lys Ala Thr Gly Thr
Asp 85 90 95 Lys Ala Ile Tyr Ser Gly Ser Lys Leu Val Gly Val Lys
Lys Ser Leu 100 105 110 Val Phe Tyr Lys Gly Arg Pro Pro Lys Gly Asp
Lys Thr Asp Trp Ile 115 120 125 Met His Glu Tyr Arg Leu Ala Glu Ser
Lys Gln Pro Val Asn Arg Lys 130 135 140 Ile Gly Ser Met Arg Leu Asp
Asp Trp Val Leu Cys Arg Ile Tyr Lys 145 150 155 160 Lys Lys Asn Thr
Gly Lys Thr Leu Glu His Lys Glu Thr His Pro Lys 165 170 175 Val Gln
Met Thr Asn Leu Ile Ala Ala Asn Asn Asp Glu Gln Lys Met 180 185 190
Met Asn Leu Pro Arg Thr Trp Ser Leu Thr Tyr Leu Leu Asp Met Asn 195
200 205 Tyr Leu Gly Pro Ile Leu Ser Asp Gly Ser Tyr Cys Ser Thr Phe
Asp 210 215 220 Phe Gln Ile Ser Asn Ala Asn Ile Gly Ile Asp Pro Phe
Val Asn Ser 225 230 235 240 Gln Pro Val Glu Met Ala Asn Asn Tyr Val
Ser Asp Ser Gly Lys Tyr 245 250 255 2271PRTMedicago truncatula 2Met
Glu Ser Ser Ala Ser Ser Glu Leu Pro Pro Gly Phe Arg Phe His 1 5 10
15 Pro Thr Asp Glu Glu Leu Ile Val His Tyr Leu Cys Asn Gln Ala Thr
20 25 30 Ser Lys Pro Cys Pro Ala Ser Ile Ile Pro Glu Val Asp Ile
Tyr Lys 35 40 45 Phe Asp Pro Trp Glu Leu Pro Asp Lys Ser Glu Phe
Glu Glu Asn Glu 50 55 60 Trp Tyr Phe Phe Ser Pro Arg Glu Arg Lys
Tyr Pro Asn Gly Val Arg 65 70 75 80 Pro Asn Arg Ala Thr Leu Ser Gly
Tyr Trp Lys Ala Thr Gly Thr Asp 85 90 95 Lys Ala Ile Lys Ser Gly
Ser Lys Gln Ile Gly Val Lys Lys Ser Leu 100 105 110 Val Phe Tyr Lys
Gly Arg Pro Pro Lys Gly Val Lys Thr Asp Trp Ile 115 120 125 Met His
Glu Tyr Arg Leu Ile Gly Ser Gln Lys Gln Thr Ser Lys His 130 135 140
Ile Gly Ser Met Arg Leu Asp Asp Trp Val Leu Cys Arg Ile Tyr Lys 145
150 155 160 Lys Lys His Met Gly Lys Thr Leu Gln Gln Lys Glu Asp Tyr
Ser Thr 165 170 175 His Gln Phe Asn Asp Ser Ile Ile Thr Asn Asn Asp
Asp Gly Glu Leu 180 185 190 Glu Met Met Asn Leu Thr Arg Ser Cys Ser
Leu Thr Tyr Leu Leu Asp 195 200 205 Met Asn Tyr Phe Gly Pro Ile Leu
Ser Asp Gly Ser Thr Leu Asp Phe 210 215 220 Gln Ile Asn Asn Ser Asn
Ile Gly Ile Asp Pro Tyr Val Lys Pro Gln 225 230 235 240 Pro Val Glu
Met Thr Asn His Tyr Glu Ala Asp Ser His Ser Ser Ile 245 250 255 Thr
Asn Gln Pro Ile Phe Val Lys Gln Met His Asn Tyr Leu Ala 260 265 270
3279PRTGlycine max 3Met Glu Asn Arg Thr Ser Ser Val Leu Pro Pro Gly
Phe Arg Phe His 1 5 10 15 Pro Thr Asp Glu Glu Leu Ile Val Tyr Tyr
Leu Cys Asn Gln Ala Ser 20 25 30 Ser Arg Pro Cys Pro Ala Ser Ile
Ile Pro Glu Val Asp Ile Tyr Lys 35 40 45 Phe Asp Pro Trp Glu Leu
Pro Asp Lys Thr Asp Phe Gly Glu Lys Glu 50 55 60 Trp Tyr Phe Phe
Ser Pro Arg Glu Arg Lys Tyr Pro Asn Gly Val Arg 65 70 75 80 Pro Asn
Arg Ala Thr Val Ser Gly Tyr Trp Lys Ala Thr Gly Thr Asp 85 90 95
Lys Ala Ile Tyr Ser Gly Ser Lys His Val Gly Val Lys Lys Ala Leu 100
105 110 Val Phe Tyr Lys Gly Lys Pro Pro Lys Gly Leu Lys Thr Asp Trp
Ile 115 120 125 Met His Glu Tyr Arg Leu Ile Gly Ser Arg Arg Gln Ala
Asn Arg Gln 130 135 140 Val Gly Ser Met Arg Leu Asp Asp Trp Val Leu
Cys Arg Ile Tyr Lys 145 150 155 160 Lys Lys Asn Ile Gly Lys Ser Met
Glu Ala Lys Glu Asp Tyr Pro Ile 165 170 175 Ala Gln Ile Asn Leu Thr
Pro Ala Asn Asn Asn Ser Glu Gln Glu Leu 180 185 190 Val Lys Phe Pro
Arg Thr Ser Ser Leu Thr His Leu Leu Glu Met Asp 195 200 205 Tyr Leu
Gly Pro Ile Ser His Ile Leu Pro Asp Ala Ser Tyr Asn Ser 210 215 220
Thr Phe Asp Phe Gln Ile Asn Thr Ala Asn Gly Gly Ile Asp Pro Phe 225
230 235 240 Val Lys Pro Gln Leu Val Glu Ile Pro Tyr Ala Thr Asp Ser
Gly Lys 245 250 255 Tyr Gln Val Lys Gln Asn Ser Thr Ile Asn Pro Thr
Ile Phe Val Asn 260 265 270 Gln Val Tyr Asp Gln Arg Gly 275
4224PRTPopulus trichocarpa 4Thr Asn Ser Glu Gln Leu Pro Pro Gly Phe
Arg Phe His Pro Thr Asp 1 5 10 15 Glu Glu Leu Ile Met Tyr Tyr Leu
Arg Asn Gln Ala Thr Ser Arg Pro 20 25 30 Cys Pro Ala Ser Ile Ile
Pro Glu Val Asp Ile Tyr Lys Phe Asp Pro 35 40 45 Trp Gln Leu Pro
Glu Lys Ala Asp Phe Gly Glu Asn Glu Trp Tyr Phe 50 55 60 Phe Thr
Pro Leu Asp Arg Lys Tyr Pro Asn Gly Val Arg Pro Asn Arg 65 70 75 80
Ala Thr Val Ser Gly Tyr Trp Lys Ala Thr Gly Thr Asp Lys Ala Ile 85
90 95 His Ser Gly Ser Lys Tyr Val Gly Val Lys Lys Ala Leu Val Phe
Tyr 100 105 110 Lys Gly Arg Pro Pro Lys Gly Thr Lys Thr Asp Trp Ile
Met Gln Glu 115 120 125 Tyr Arg Leu Asn Asp Ser Asn Lys Pro Ala Ser
Lys Gln Asn Gly Ser 130 135 140 Met Arg Leu Val Leu Cys Arg Ile Tyr
Arg Lys Arg His Ala Ile Arg 145 150 155 160 His Leu Glu Glu Lys Thr
Glu Asn Pro Val His Ala His Leu Asp Val 165 170 175 Thr Pro Asp Asn
Asp Ala Arg Glu Gln Gln Met Met Lys Ile Ser Gly 180 185 190 Thr Cys
Ser Leu Ser Arg Leu Leu Glu Met Glu Tyr Leu Gly Ser Ile 195 200 205
Ser Gln Leu Leu Ser Gly Asp Thr Tyr Asn Ser Asp Phe Asp Ser Gln 210
215 220 5281PRTSolanum demissum 5Met Val Gly Lys Ile Ser Ser Asp
Leu Pro Pro Gly Phe Arg Phe His 1 5 10 15 Pro Thr Asp Glu Glu Leu
Ile Met Tyr Tyr Leu Arg Tyr Gln Ala Thr 20 25 30 Ser Arg Pro Cys
Pro Val Ser Ile Ile Pro Glu Ile Asp Val Tyr Lys 35 40 45 Phe Asp
Pro Trp Glu Leu Pro Glu Lys Ala Glu Phe Gly Glu Asn Glu 50 55 60
Trp Tyr Phe Phe Thr Pro Arg Asp Arg Lys Tyr Pro Asn Gly Val Arg 65
70 75 80 Pro Asn Arg Ala Ala Val Ser Gly Tyr Trp Lys Ala Thr Gly
Thr Asp 85 90 95 Lys Ala Ile Tyr Ser Ala Asn Lys Tyr Val Gly Ile
Lys Lys Ala Leu 100 105 110 Val Phe Tyr Lys Gly Lys Pro Pro Lys Gly
Val Lys Thr Asp Trp Ile 115 120 125 Met His Glu Tyr Arg Leu Ser Asp
Ser Lys Ser Gln Thr Tyr Ser Lys 130 135 140 Gln Ser Gly Ser Met Arg
Leu Asp Asp Trp Val Leu Cys Arg Ile Tyr 145 150 155 160 Lys Lys Lys
Asn Leu Gly Lys Thr Ile Glu Met Met Lys Val Glu Glu 165 170 175 Glu
Glu Leu Glu Ala Gln Asn Val Ser Ile Asn Asn Ala Ile Glu Val 180 185
190 Gly Gly Pro Gln Thr Met Lys Leu Pro Arg Ile Cys Ser Leu Ser His
195 200 205 Leu Leu Glu Leu Asp Tyr Phe Gly Ser Ile Pro Gln Leu Leu
Ser Asp 210 215 220 Asn Leu Leu Tyr Asp Asp Gln Ser Tyr Thr Met Asn
Asn Val Ser Asn 225 230 235 240 Thr Ser Asn Val Asp Gln Val Ser Ser
Gln Gln Gln Asn Thr Asn Asn 245 250 255 Ile Thr Ser Asn Asn Cys Asn
Ile Phe Phe Asn Tyr Gln Gln Pro Leu 260 265 270 Phe Val Asn Pro Thr
Phe Gln Ser Gln 275 280 6268PRTArabidopsis thaliana 6Met Glu Val
Thr Ser Gln Ser Thr Leu Pro Pro Gly Phe Arg Phe His 1 5 10 15 Pro
Thr Asp Glu Glu Leu Ile Val Tyr Tyr Leu Arg Asn Gln Thr Met 20 25
30 Ser Lys Pro Cys Pro Val Ser Ile Ile Pro Glu Val Asp Ile Tyr Lys
35 40 45 Phe Asp Pro Trp Gln Leu Pro Glu Lys Thr Glu Phe Gly Glu
Asn Glu 50 55 60 Trp Tyr Phe Phe Ser Pro Arg Glu Arg Lys Tyr Pro
Asn Gly Val Arg 65 70 75 80 Pro Asn Arg Ala Ala Val Ser Gly Tyr Trp
Lys Ala Thr Gly Thr Asp 85 90 95 Lys Ala Ile His Ser Gly Ser Ser
Asn Val Gly Val Lys Lys Ala Leu 100 105 110 Val Phe Tyr Lys Gly Arg
Pro Pro Lys Gly Ile Lys Thr Asp Trp Ile 115 120 125 Met His Glu Tyr
Arg Leu His Asp Ser Arg Lys Ala Ser Thr Lys Arg 130 135 140 Asn Gly
Ser Met Arg Leu Asp Glu Trp Val Leu Cys Arg Ile Tyr Lys 145 150 155
160 Lys Arg Gly Ala Ser Lys Leu Leu Asn Glu Gln Glu Gly Phe Met Asp
165 170 175 Glu Val Leu Met Glu Asp Glu Thr Lys Val Val Val Asn Glu
Ala Glu 180 185 190 Arg Arg Thr Glu Glu Glu Ile Met Met Met Thr Ser
Met Lys Leu Pro 195 200 205 Arg Thr Cys Ser Leu Ala His Leu Leu Glu
Met Asp Tyr Met Gly Pro 210 215 220 Val Ser His Ile Asp Asn Phe Ser
Gln Phe Asp His Leu His Gln Pro 225 230 235 240 Asp Ser Glu Ser Ser
Trp Phe Gly Asp Leu Gln Phe Asn Gln Asp Glu 245 250 255 Ile Leu Asn
His His Arg Gln Ala Met Phe Lys Phe 260 265 7354PRTTriticum
aestivum 7Met Pro Met Gly Ser Ser Ala Ala Met Pro Ala Leu Pro Pro
Gly Phe 1 5 10 15 Arg Phe His Pro Thr Asp Glu Glu Leu Ile Val His
Tyr Leu Arg Arg 20 25 30 Gln Ala Ala Ser Met Pro Ser Pro Val Pro
Ile Ile Ala Glu Val Asn 35 40 45 Ile Tyr Lys Cys Asn Pro Trp Asp
Leu Pro Gly Lys Ala Leu Phe Gly 50 55 60 Glu Asn Glu Trp Tyr Phe
Phe Ser Pro Arg Asp Arg Lys Tyr Pro Asn 65 70 75 80 Gly Ala Arg Pro
Asn Arg Ala Ala Gly Ser Gly Tyr Trp Lys Ala Thr 85 90 95 Gly Thr
Asp Lys Ala Ile Leu Ser Thr Pro Ala Asn Glu Ser Ile Gly 100 105 110
Val Lys Lys Ala Leu Val Phe Tyr Arg Gly Lys Pro Pro Lys Gly Val 115
120 125 Lys Thr Asp Trp Ile Met His Glu Tyr Arg Leu Thr Ala Ala Asp
Asn 130 135 140 Arg Thr Thr Lys Arg Arg Gly Ser Ser Met Arg Leu Asp
Asp Trp Val 145 150 155 160 Leu Cys Arg Ile His Lys Lys Cys Gly Asn
Leu Pro Asn Phe Ser Ser 165 170 175 Ser Asp Gln Glu Gln Glu His Glu
Gln Glu Ser Ser Thr Val Glu Asp 180 185 190 Ser Gln Asn Asn His Thr
Val Ser Ser Pro Lys Ser Glu Ala Phe Asp 195 200 205 Gly Asp Gly Asp
Asp His Leu Gln Leu Gln Gln Phe Arg Pro Met Ala 210 215 220 Ile Ala
Lys Ser Cys Ser Leu Thr Asp Leu Leu Asn Thr Val Asp Tyr 225 230 235
240 Ala Ala Leu Ser His Leu Leu Leu Asp Gly Ala Gly Ala Ser Ser Ser
245 250 255 Asp Ala Gly Ala Asp Tyr Gln Leu Pro Pro Glu Asn Pro Leu
Ile Tyr 260 265 270 Ser Gln Pro Pro Trp Gln Gln Thr Leu His Tyr Asn
Asn Asn Asn Gly 275 280 285 Tyr Val Asn Asn Glu Thr Ile Asp Val Pro
Gln Leu Pro Glu Ala Arg 290 295 300 Val Asp Asp Tyr Gly Met Asn Gly
Asp Lys Tyr Asn Gly Met Lys Arg 305 310 315 320 Lys Arg Ser Ser Gly
Ser Leu Tyr Cys Ser Gln Leu Gln Leu Pro Ala 325 330 335 Asp Gln Tyr
Ser Gly Met Leu Ile His Pro Phe Leu Ser Gln Gln Leu 340 345 350 His
Met 8392PRTOryza sativa 8Met Val Leu Ser Asn Pro Ala Met Leu Pro
Pro Gly Phe Arg Phe His 1 5 10 15 Pro Thr Asp Glu Glu Leu Ile Val
His Tyr Leu Arg Asn Arg Ala Ala 20 25 30 Ser Ser Pro Cys Pro Val
Ser Ile Ile Ala Asp Val Asp Ile Tyr Lys 35 40 45 Phe Asp Pro Trp
Asp Leu Pro Ser Lys Glu Asn Tyr Gly Asp Arg Glu 50 55 60 Trp Tyr
Phe Phe Ser Pro Arg Asp Arg Lys Tyr Pro Asn Gly Ile Arg 65 70 75 80
Pro Asn Arg Ala Ala Gly Ser Gly Tyr Trp Lys Ala Thr Gly Thr Asp 85
90 95 Lys Pro Ile His Ser Ser Gly Gly Ala Ala Thr Asn Glu Ser Val
Gly 100 105 110 Val Lys Lys Ala Leu Val Phe Tyr Lys Gly Arg Pro Pro
Lys Gly Thr 115 120 125 Lys Thr Asn Trp Ile Met His Glu Tyr Arg Leu
Ala Ala Ala Asp Ala 130 135 140 His Ala Ala Asn Thr Tyr Arg Pro Met
Lys Phe Arg Asn Thr Ser Met 145 150 155 160 Arg Leu Asp Asp Trp Val
Leu Cys Arg Ile Tyr Lys Lys Ser Ser His 165 170 175 Ala Ser Pro Leu
Ala Val Pro Pro Leu Ser Asp His Glu Gln Asp Glu 180 185 190 Pro Cys
Ala Leu Glu Glu Asn Ala Pro Leu Tyr Ala Pro Ser Ser Ser 195 200 205
Ser Ala Ala Ser Met Ile Leu Gln Gly Ala Ala Ala Gly Ala Phe Pro 210
215 220 Ser Leu His Ala Ala Ala Ala Ala Thr Gln Arg Thr Ala Met Gln
Lys 225 230 235 240 Ile Pro Ser Ile Ser Asp Leu Leu Asn Glu Tyr Ser
Leu Ser Gln Leu 245 250 255 Phe Asp Asp Gly Gly Ala Ala Ala Ala Ala
Pro Leu Gln Glu Met Ala 260 265 270 Arg Gln Pro Asp His His His His
Gln Gln Gln Gln His Ala Leu Phe 275 280 285 Gly His Pro Val Met Asn
His Phe Ile Ala Asn Asn Ser Met Val Gln 290 295 300 Leu Ala His Leu
Asp Pro Ser Ser Ser Ala Ala Ala Ser Thr Ser Ala 305 310 315 320 Gly
Ala Val Val Glu Pro Pro Ala Val Thr Gly Lys Arg Lys Arg Ser 325 330
335 Ser Asp Gly Gly Glu Pro Thr Ile Gln Ala Leu Pro Pro Ala Ala Ala
340
345 350 Ala Ala Lys Lys Pro Asn Gly Ser Cys Val Gly Ala Thr Phe Gln
Ile 355 360 365 Gly Ser Ala Leu Gln Gly Ser Ser Leu Gly Leu Ser His
Gln Met Leu 370 375 380 Leu His Ser Asn Met Gly Met Asn 385 390
9163PRTZea mays 9Met Val Met Ala Asn Pro Asp Met Leu Pro Pro Gly
Phe Arg Phe His 1 5 10 15 Pro Thr Asp Glu Glu Leu Ile Leu His Tyr
Leu Arg Asn Arg Ala Ala 20 25 30 Asn Ala Pro Cys Pro Val Ala Ile
Ile Ala Asp Val Asp Ile Tyr Lys 35 40 45 Phe Asp Pro Trp Asp Leu
Pro Arg Ala Ala Tyr Gly Asp Lys Glu Trp 50 55 60 Tyr Phe Phe Ser
Pro Arg Asp Arg Lys Tyr Pro Asn Gly Ile Arg Pro 65 70 75 80 Asn Arg
Ala Ala Gly Ser Gly Tyr Trp Lys Ala Thr Gly Thr Asp Lys 85 90 95
Pro Ile His Ser Ser Thr Thr Ala Gly Glu Ser Val Gly Val Lys Lys 100
105 110 Ala Leu Val Phe Tyr Glu Gly Arg Pro Pro Lys Gly Thr Lys Thr
Asn 115 120 125 Trp Ile Met His Glu Tyr Arg Leu Ala Ala Asp Ala Gln
Ala Ala His 130 135 140 Ala Tyr Arg Pro Met Lys Phe Arg Asn Ala Ser
Met Arg Val Arg Arg 145 150 155 160 Thr Leu Leu 10363PRTPrunus
persica 10Met Glu Ser Thr Asp Ser Ser Thr Ala Ser Gln Gln Gln Gln
Gln Gln 1 5 10 15 Gln Pro Gln Pro Pro Pro Gln Pro Asn Leu Pro Pro
Gly Phe Arg Phe 20 25 30 His Pro Thr Asp Glu Glu Leu Val Val His
Tyr Leu Lys Lys Lys Val 35 40 45 Thr Ser Ala Pro Leu Pro Val Ala
Ile Ile Ala Glu Ile Glu Leu Tyr 50 55 60 Lys Phe Asp Pro Trp Glu
Leu Pro Ala Lys Ala Thr Phe Gly Glu Gln 65 70 75 80 Glu Trp Tyr Phe
Phe Ser Pro Arg Asp Arg Lys Tyr Pro Asn Gly Ala 85 90 95 Arg Pro
Asn Arg Ala Ala Thr Ser Gly Tyr Trp Lys Ala Thr Gly Thr 100 105 110
Asp Lys Pro Val Leu Thr Ser Gly Gly Thr Gln Lys Val Gly Val Lys 115
120 125 Lys Ala Leu Val Phe Tyr Gly Gly Lys Pro Pro Lys Gly Ile Lys
Thr 130 135 140 Asn Trp Ile Met His Glu Tyr Arg Leu Ala Asp Ser Lys
Thr Ser Asn 145 150 155 160 Lys Pro Pro Gly Cys Asp Leu Gly Asn Lys
Lys Asn Ser Leu Arg Leu 165 170 175 Asp Asp Trp Val Leu Cys Arg Ile
Tyr Lys Lys Asn Asn Ser His Arg 180 185 190 Pro Met Asp Leu Glu Arg
Glu Asp Ser Met Glu Asp Met Met Gly Pro 195 200 205 Leu Met Pro Pro
Ser Ile Ser His Val Gly His His Gln Asn Met Asn 210 215 220 Leu His
Leu Pro Lys Ser Asn Thr Asn Tyr Gly Pro Pro Phe Ile Glu 225 230 235
240 Asn Asp Gln Ile Ile Phe Asp Gly Ile Met Ser Ser Thr Asp Gly Ser
245 250 255 Ala Ser Leu Ser Asn Gly Thr Ser Gln Leu Pro Leu Lys Arg
Ser Ile 260 265 270 Val Pro Ser Leu Tyr Arg Asn Asp Gln Glu Asp Asp
Gln Thr Ala Gly 275 280 285 Ala Ser Ser Ser Lys Arg Val Val Gln Leu
His Gln Leu Asp Ser Gly 290 295 300 Thr Asn Asn Ser Val Ala Ala Asn
Asn Asn Ser Thr Ser Ile Ala Asn 305 310 315 320 Leu Leu Ser Gln Leu
Pro Gln Thr Pro Pro Leu His Gln His Ala Met 325 330 335 Leu Gly Ser
Leu Gly Asp Gly Leu Phe Arg Thr Pro Tyr Gln Leu Pro 340 345 350 Gly
Met Asn Trp Phe Ser Glu Ser Asn Leu Gly 355 360
11355PRTLycopersicon esculentum 11Met Glu Ser Thr Asp Ser Ser Thr
Gly Thr Arg His Gln Pro Gln Leu 1 5 10 15 Pro Pro Gly Phe Arg Phe
His Pro Thr Asp Glu Glu Leu Ile Val His 20 25 30 Tyr Leu Lys Lys
Arg Val Ala Gly Ala Pro Ile Pro Val Asp Ile Ile 35 40 45 Gly Glu
Ile Asp Leu Tyr Lys Phe Asp Pro Trp Glu Leu Pro Ala Lys 50 55 60
Ala Ile Phe Gly Glu Gln Glu Trp Phe Phe Phe Ser Pro Arg Asp Arg 65
70 75 80 Lys Tyr Pro Asn Gly Ala Arg Pro Asn Arg Ala Ala Thr Ser
Gly Tyr 85 90 95 Trp Lys Ala Thr Gly Thr Asp Lys Pro Val Phe Thr
Ser Gly Gly Thr 100 105 110 Gln Lys Val Gly Val Lys Lys Ala Leu Val
Phe Tyr Gly Gly Lys Pro 115 120 125 Pro Lys Gly Val Lys Thr Asn Trp
Ile Met His Glu Tyr Arg Val Val 130 135 140 Glu Asn Lys Thr Asn Asn
Lys Pro Leu Gly Cys Asp Asn Ile Val Ala 145 150 155 160 Asn Lys Lys
Gly Ser Leu Arg Leu Asp Asp Trp Val Leu Cys Arg Ile 165 170 175 Tyr
Lys Lys Asn Asn Thr Gln Arg Ser Ile Asp Asp Leu His Asp Met 180 185
190 Leu Gly Ser Ile Pro Gln Asn Val Pro Asn Ser Ile Leu Gln Gly Ile
195 200 205 Lys Pro Ser Asn Tyr Gly Thr Ile Leu Leu Glu Asn Glu Ser
Asn Met 210 215 220 Tyr Asp Gly Ile Met Asn Asn Thr Asn Asp Ile Ile
Asn Asn Asn Asn 225 230 235 240 Arg Ser Ile Pro Gln Ile Ser Ser Lys
Arg Thr Met His Gly Gly Leu 245 250 255 Tyr Trp Asn Asn Asp Glu Ala
Thr Thr Thr Thr Thr Thr Ile Asp Arg 260 265 270 Asn His Ser Pro Asn
Thr Lys Arg Phe Leu Val Glu Asn Asn Glu Asp 275 280 285 Asp Gly Leu
Asn Met Asn Asn Ile Ser Arg Ile Thr Asn His Glu Gln 290 295 300 Ser
Ser Ser Ile Ala Asn Phe Leu Ser Gln Phe Pro Gln Asn Pro Ser 305 310
315 320 Ile Gln Gln Gln Gln Gln Gln Gln Glu Glu Val Leu Gly Ser Leu
Asn 325 330 335 Asp Gly Val Val Phe Arg Gln Pro Tyr Asn Gln Val Thr
Gly Met Asn 340 345 350 Trp Tyr Ser 355 12304PRTPetunia x hybrida
12Met Thr Thr Ala Glu Leu Gln Leu Pro Pro Gly Phe Arg Phe His Pro 1
5 10 15 Thr Asp Glu Glu Leu Val Met His Tyr Leu Cys Arg Lys Cys Ala
Ser 20 25 30 Gln Pro Ile Ala Val Pro Ile Ile Ala Glu Ile Asp Leu
Tyr Lys Tyr 35 40 45 Asp Pro Trp Asp Leu Pro Asp Leu Ala Leu Tyr
Gly Glu Lys Glu Trp 50 55 60 Tyr Phe Phe Ser Pro Arg Asp Arg Lys
Tyr Pro Asn Gly Ser Arg Pro 65 70 75 80 Asn Arg Ala Ala Gly Thr Gly
Tyr Trp Lys Ala Thr Gly Ala Asp Lys 85 90 95 Pro Ile Gly His Pro
Lys Ala Val Gly Ile Lys Lys Ala Leu Val Phe 100 105 110 Tyr Ala Gly
Lys Ala Pro Lys Gly Glu Lys Thr Asn Trp Ile Met His 115 120 125 Glu
Tyr Arg Leu Ala Asp Val Asp Arg Ser Ala Arg Lys Asn Asn Asn 130 135
140 Ser Leu Arg Leu Asp Asp Trp Val Leu Cys Arg Ile Tyr Asn Lys Lys
145 150 155 160 Gly Ser Ile Glu Lys Asn Gln Leu Asn Asn Lys Lys Ile
Met Asn Thr 165 170 175 Ser Tyr Met Asp Met Thr Val Ser Ser Glu Glu
Asp Arg Lys Pro Glu 180 185 190 Ile Leu Pro Pro Leu Pro Pro Gln Pro
Ala Pro Gln Gln Gln Gln Val 195 200 205 Tyr Asn Asp Phe Phe Tyr Leu
Asp Pro Ser Asp Ser Val Pro Lys Ile 210 215 220 His Ser Asp Ser Ser
Cys Ser Glu His Val Val Ser Pro Glu Phe Thr 225 230 235 240 Cys Glu
Arg Glu Val Gln Ser Glu Ala Lys Leu Ser Glu Trp Glu Lys 245 250 255
Ala Ala Leu Asp Leu Pro Phe Asn Tyr Met Asp Ala Thr Thr Gly Ala 260
265 270 Thr Thr Leu Asp Asn Ser Leu Leu Gly Ser Gln Phe Gln Ser Ser
Tyr 275 280 285 Gln Met Ser Pro Leu Gln Asp Met Phe Met His Leu His
Lys Pro Phe 290 295 300 13349PRTSolanum tuberosum 13Met Gly Val Gln
Glu Lys Tyr Pro Leu Leu Gln Leu Ser Leu Pro Pro 1 5 10 15 Gly Phe
Arg Phe Tyr Pro Thr Asp Glu Glu Leu Leu Val Gln Tyr Leu 20 25 30
Cys Lys Lys Val Ala Gly His Asp Phe Pro Leu Gln Ile Ile Gly Glu 35
40 45 Ile Asp Leu Tyr Lys Phe Asp Pro Trp Val Leu Pro Ser Lys Ala
Thr 50 55 60 Phe Gly Glu Lys Glu Trp Tyr Phe Phe Ser Pro Arg Asp
Arg Lys Tyr 65 70 75 80 Pro Asn Gly Ser Arg Pro Asn Arg Val Ala Gly
Ser Gly Tyr Trp Lys 85 90 95 Ala Thr Gly Thr Asp Lys Ile Ile Thr
Ser Gln Gly Arg Lys Val Gly 100 105 110 Ile Lys Lys Ala Leu Val Phe
Tyr Val Gly Lys Ala Pro Lys Gly Ser 115 120 125 Lys Thr Asn Trp Ile
Met His Glu Tyr Arg Leu Phe Glu Ser Ser Lys 130 135 140 Lys Asn Asn
Gly Ser Ser Lys Leu Asp Glu Trp Val Leu Cys Arg Ile 145 150 155 160
Tyr Lys Lys Asn Ser Ser Gly Pro Lys Pro Leu Met Ser Gly Leu His 165
170 175 Ser Ser Asn Glu Tyr Ser His Gly Ser Ser Thr Ser Ser Ser Ser
Gln 180 185 190 Phe Asp Asp Met Leu Glu Ser Leu Pro Glu Met Asp Asp
Arg Phe Ser 195 200 205 Asn Leu Pro Arg Leu Asn Ser Leu Lys Thr Glu
Lys Leu Asn Leu Glu 210 215 220 Arg Leu Asp Ser Ala Asn Phe Asp Trp
Ala Ile Leu Ala Gly Leu Lys 225 230 235 240 Pro Met Pro Glu Leu Arg
Pro Ala Asn Gln Ala Pro Gly Val Gln Gly 245 250 255 Gln Gly Gln Ala
Gln Gly Asn Val Asn Asn His Asn Asn Asn Asn Met 260 265 270 Asn Phe
Leu Asn Asp Val Tyr Ala His Pro Thr Thr Asn Phe Arg Gly 275 280 285
Asn Thr Lys Val Glu Ser Ile Asn Leu Asp Glu Glu Val Glu Ser Gly 290
295 300 Asn Arg Asn Arg Arg Ile Asp Gln Ser Ser Tyr Phe Gln Gln Ser
Leu 305 310 315 320 Asn Gly Phe Ser Gln Ala Tyr Thr Asn Ser Val Asp
Gln Phe Gly Ile 325 330 335 Gln Cys Pro Asn Gln Thr Leu Asn Leu Gly
Phe Arg Gln 340 345 1422DNAArtificialPrimer 14gcgtggaccg cttgctgcaa
ct 221523DNAArtificialPrimer 15atcatggaag taacttccca atc
231621DNAArtificialPrimer 16ttcagttctt ctctctgctt c
211720DNAArtificialPrimer 17ggccattttc tacgctacct
201825DNAArtificialPrimer 18cttccatggt tttcagacaa tttag
251929DNAArtificialPrimer 19tagtcgacag ttcctgttct attagattg
292027DNAArtificialPrimer 20tatcatgaac ttaaacatcg cttgacg
272125DNAArtificialPrimer 21cactagttcc tgttctatta gattg
252225DNAArtificialPrimer 22gctgcagtaa cttttcaagc acatc
252324DNAArtificialPrimer 23gcgtcatctc atcctaatcc tcat
242423DNAArtificialPrimer 24cgtgacttcg tcttatcatg ctg
232531DNAArtificialPrimer 25ttctgcagcg tcatctcatc ctaatcctca t
312629DNAArtificialPrimer 26gttacttcca tggttttcag acaatttag
292722DNAArtificialPrimer 27ttccatggtt ctgtcgaacc cg
222826DNAArtificialPrimer 28gatctagacg aagaacgagc tatcag
262935DNAArtificialPrimer 29aagtcgacga ttttcagaca atttagaaaa caatc
353028DNAArtificialPrimer 30aagtcgacat ggatgctacc acaccctc
283126DNAArtificialPrimer 31gatctagatg gacgaagctt atcgtc
263218DNAArtificialPrimer 32cagctgcgga tgttgttg
183319DNAArtificialPrimer 33ccactttctc cccattttg
193418DNAArtificialPrimer 34gcaaccaaag gagccatg
183519DNAArtificialPrimer 35gtttggccaa ctagtctgc
193620DNAArtificialPrimer 36agtaatggct tcctctatgc
203720DNAArtificialPrimer 37ggcttgtagg caatgaaact
203818DNAArtificialPrimer 38atcccttcca tttccgac
183918DNAArtificialPrimer 39ctgggtcttg tgcagaat
184022DNAArtificialPrimer 40tctagaggca aaagaggact ac
224124DNAArtificialPrimer 41ggatcctggt acttccctga atct
244230DNAArtificialPrimer 42taggccttga tgcatgttgt caatcaattg
304320DNAArtificialPrimer 43tctagacgga gctgttcaac
204421DNAArtificialPrimer 44aagcttagag tgaagcggca t
214525DNAArtificialPrimer 45ggaattcgcc cggggatctc ctttg 25
* * * * *
References