Polynucleotides and methods for improving plants

Abstract

The invention provides methods and compositions for producing plant with altered biomass, the methods comprising the step of altering the expression and/or activity of the polypeptide comprising the sequence of SEQ ID NO:1, or a variant thereof, in a plant cell or plant. The invention also provides a polypeptide comprising the sequence of SEQ ID NO:1, and fragments of variants thereof the sequence. The invention also provides polynucleotides encoding such polypetide sequences. The invention also provides constructs, cells and plants comprising such polynucleotides.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of producing a plant with increased biomass the method comprising the step of reducing the expression, in a plant cell or plant, of a polypeptide comprising the sequence of SEQ ID NO: 20, wherein the reducing of expression leads to the increased biomass. 
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the expression is reduced by transforming a plant cell, or plant, with a polynucleotide that is complementary to an endogenous gene encoding the polypeptide, such that expression of the polynucleotide results in reduced expression of the polypeptide and leads to the increased biomass. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the plant cell or plant is transformed with at least one of:
 a) a polynucleotide including a sequence encoding of a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:20;   b) a polynucleotide comprising a fragment, of at least 15 nucleotides in length, of the polynucleotide of a); and   c) a polynucleotide comprising a complement, of at least 15 nucleotides in length, of the polynucleotide of a);   wherein the expression of the polynucleotide in the plant cell or plant results in reduced expression of the polypeptide and leads to the increased biomass.   
     
     
         4 . A plant produced by the method of  claim 1 . 
     
     
         5 . A plant produced by the method of  claim 1 , wherein the expression of an endogenous polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:20 is down-regulated in the plant relative to a non-transformed control plant, and wherein the plant has increased biomass relative to a non-transformed control plant. 
     
     
         6 . The plant of  claim 5  that has an increased number of tillers relative to a non-transformed control plant. 
     
     
         7 . A method for selecting a plant with altered biomass, the method comprising testing of a plant for reduced expression of a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:20, wherein the reduced expression is indicative of increased biomass.