F-box protein targeted plant oil production

Abstract

Disclosed are genetic constructs, transgenic plant cells and transgenic plants, as well as associated methods, for increasing oil production in a plant using F-box gene sequences.

1 . A genetic construct for the overexpression of an F-box protein in plants comprising: 
 (a) a gene promoter sequence; and    (b) a sequence encoding an F-box protein functionally linked to the gene promoter sequence.    
     
     
         2 . The genetic construct of  claim 1 , wherein the F-box protein is a plant F-box protein.  
     
     
         3 . The genetic construct of  claim 1 , wherein the gene promoter sequence is a seed-specific promoter.  
     
     
         4 . The genetic construct of  claim 3 , wherein the gene promoter sequence is phaseolin.  
     
     
         5 . The genetic construct of  claim 1 , comprising a pBBV-PHAS expression vector.  
     
     
         6 . The genetic construct of  claim 1 , wherein the F-box protein comprises a polypeptide sequence at least about 75% identical to the polypeptide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1.  
     
     
         7 . The genetic construct of  claim 1 , wherein the F-box protein comprises a polypeptide sequence at least about 90% identical to the polypeptide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1.  
     
     
         8 . The genetic construct of  claim 1 , wherein the plant F-box protein comprises the polypeptide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1.  
     
     
         9 . The genetic construct of  claim 1 , wherein the F-box protein is encoded by a nucleic acid that hybridizes to the nucleic acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2.  
     
     
         10 . The genetic construct of  claim 1 , wherein the F-box protein is encoded by a nucleic acid that hybridizes under stringent conditions to the nucleic acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2.  
     
     
         11 . The genetic construct of  claim 1 , wherein the plant F-box protein is encoded by the nucleic acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2.  
     
     
         12 . A transgenic plant cell comprising a genetic construct of  claim 1 .  
     
     
         13 . The transgenic plant cell of  claim 12 , wherein the plant is  Arabidopsis thaliana.    
     
     
         14 . The transgenic plant cell of  claim 12 , wherein the plant is selected from the group consisting of soybean, palm, rapeseed and sunflower.  
     
     
         15 . A recombinant  Arabidopsis thaliana  plant cell comprising an heterologous genetic construct having a gene promoter sequence functionally linked to a plant F-box encoding sequence.  
     
     
         16 . The recombinant  Arabidopsis thaliana  plant cell of  claim 13 , wherein the plant F-box sequence encodes the polypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 1 and the promoter is phaseolin.  
     
     
         17 . A plant comprising a transgenic plant cell according to  claim 12 , or a part, propagule or progeny thereof, wherein the part, propagule or progeny comprises the genetic construct.  
     
     
         18 . A method of modifying oil production in a plant comprising: 
 stably incorporating into the genome of the plant a genetic construct according to claims  1  to provide a transformed plant; and    regenerating the transformed plant,    wherein expression of the incorporated genetic construct modifies oil production in the plant.    
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the plant is  Arabidopsis thaliana.    
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the plant is selected from the group consisting of soybean, palm, rapeseed and sunflower.  
     
     
         21 . A method of increasing oil production in  Arabidopsis thaliana  comprising: 
 stably incorporating into the genome of the  Arabidopsis thaliana  plant a genetic construct having a phaseolin gene promoter sequence functionally linked to an  Arabidospsis  F-box sequence encoding SEQ ID NO: 1; and    regenerating the transformed plant,    wherein expression of the incorporated genetic construct increases oil production in the  Arabidopsis thaliana  plant.