Modified plants

Abstract

A method for controlling endosperm size and development in plants. The method employs nucleic acid constructs encoding proteins involved in genomic imprinting, in the production of transgenic plants. The nucleic acid constructs can be used in the production of transgenic plants to affect interspecific hybridisation.

1 . A method for the production of seeds, comprising the step of permitting pollination of a plant transformed with an  Arabidopsis  ddm1 nucleic acid sequence effective for reducing levels of cytosine methylation in repetitive sequences, said nucleic acid sequence operably linked to a promoter that targets expression to female germ line cells, wherein seeds that develop on said plant have increased mean seed weight compared to the mean seed weight of seeds that develop on a corresponding pollinated plant that lacks said nucleic acid sequence.  
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said nucleic acid sequence comprises an  Arabidopsis  ddm1 antisense nucleic acid.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said nucleic acid sequence comprises a full or partial sense copy of an  Arabidopsis  ddm1 nucleic acid sequence.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein said sense copy is a partial sense copy.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said promoter targets expression to female gametic cells.  
     
     
         6 . A plant transformed with a nucleic acid comprising a promoter that targets expression to female germ line cells operatively linked to an  Arabidopsis  ddm1 nucleic acid sequence effective for reducing levels of cytosine methylation in repetitive sequences.