Plants having increased desiccation tolerance, increased drought tolerance or increased water use efficiency

Abstract

A transgenic plant engineered to have increased desiccation tolerance, increased drought tolerance or increased water use efficiency, the plant transformed with an artificial DNA construct comprising a transcribable nucleic acid molecule encoding a polypeptide requiring both ABA and ABI3 to influence desiccation tolerance. Also provided are DNA constructs and methods of producing a transgenic plant engineered to have increased desiccation tolerance, increased drought tolerance or increased water use efficiency.

what is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A transgenic plant engineered to have increased desiccation tolerance, increased drought tolerance or increased water use efficiency, the plant transformed with an artificial DNA construct comprising, as operably associated components in the 5′ to 3′ direction of transcription:
 a promoter that functions in a plant; 
 a polynucleotide 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, or SEQ ID NO: 8, or a sequence at least 95% identical thereto; and 
 a transcriptional termination sequence; 
 wherein the transgenic plant has an increased desiccation tolerance, increased drought tolerance or increased water use efficiency compared to a plant without the DNA construct. 
 
     
     
         2 . The transgenic plant of  claim 1 , wherein the DNA construct comprises a polynucleotide of SEQ ID NO: 8, or a sequence at least 95% identical thereto. 
     
     
         3 . The transgenic plant of  claim 1 , wherein
 (a) the DNA construct comprises at least two polynucleotides independently 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, or SEQ ID NO: 8, or a sequence at least 95% identical thereto; or   (b) the plant comprises at least two DNA constructs, each DNA construct comprising a polynucleotide independently 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, or SEQ ID NO: 8, or a sequence at least 95% identical thereto.   
     
     
         4 . The transgenic plant of  claim 3 , wherein the plant comprises SEQ ID NO: 8 and one or more 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, or SEQ ID NO: 7. 
     
     
         5 . The transgenic plant of  claim 3 , wherein the plant comprises SEQ ID NO: 8 and one or more of SEQ ID NO: 1, SEQ ID NO: 2, or SEQ ID NO: 5. 
     
     
         6 . The transgenic plant of  claim 3 , wherein the plant comprises:
 SEQ ID NO: 8 and SEQ ID NO: 1;   SEQ ID NO: 8 and SEQ ID NO: 2;   SEQ ID NO: 8 and SEQ ID NO: 5;   SEQ ID NO: 8, SEQ ID NO: 1, and SEQ ID NO: 2;   SEQ ID NO: 8, SEQ ID NO: 1, and SEQ ID NO: 5;   SEQ ID NO: 8, SEQ ID NO: 2, and SEQ ID NO: 5; or SEQ ID NO: 8, SEQ ID NO: 1, SEQ ID NO: 2, and SEQ ID NO: 5.   
     
     
         7 . The transgenic plant of  claim 1 , wherein the promoter is an inducible promoter. 
     
     
         8 . The transgenic plant of  claim 1 , wherein the promoter is a tissue-specific promoter. 
     
     
         9 . The transgenic plant of  claim 8 , wherein the promoter is a seed-specific promoter. 
     
     
         10 . The transgenic plant of  claim 1 , wherein the desiccation tolerance is increased by at least about 10%, at least about 20%, at least about 30%, at least about 40%, at least about 50%, at least about 60%, at least about 70%, at least about 80%, at least about 90%, at least about 100%, at least about 250%, at least about 500%, at least about 750%, or at least about 1000%, as compared to a plant not comprising the DNA construct. 
     
     
         11 . The transgenic plant of  claim 1 , wherein the drought tolerance is increased by at least about 10%, at least about 20%, at least about 30%, at least about 40%, at least about 50%, at least about 60%, at least about 70%, at least about 80%, at least about 90%, at least about 100%, at least about 250%, at least about 500%, at least about 750%, or at least about 1000%, as compared to a plant not comprising the DNA construct. 
     
     
         12 . The transgenic plant of  claim 1 , wherein the water use efficiency is increased by at least about 10%, at least about 20%, at least about 30%, at least about 40%, at least about 50%, at least about 60%, at least about 70%, at least about 80%, at least about 90%, at least about 100%, at least about 250%, at least about 500%, at least about 750%, or at least about 1000%, as compared to a plant not comprising the DNA construct. 
     
     
         13 . The transgenic plant of  claim 1 , wherein the plant is selected from the group consisting of maize, bean, soybean, wheat, barley, hay, rice, peanut, cotton, tomato, cucurbit, okra, eggplant, pepper, sugar beet, sugarcane, cassava, potatoes, palm, rapeseed, sunflower, coconut, olive, flax, safflower, sesame, apple, pear, grape, strawberry, blackcurrant, redcurrant, gooseberry, guava, lucuma, chili pepper, pomegranate, kiwifruit, cranberry, blueberry, blackberry, raspberry, boysenberry, banana, plum, cherry, peach, apricot, mango, orange, lime, lemon, grapefruit, pineapple, fig, mulberry, hedge apple, osage-orange, and breadfruit. 
     
     
         14 . A plant part of the transgenic plant of  claim 1 . 
     
     
         15 . An artificial DNA construct comprising, as operably associated components in the 5′ to 3′ direction of transcription:
 a promoter that functions in a plant; 
 a polynucleotide 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, or SEQ ID NO: 8, or a sequence at least 95% identical thereto; and 
 a transcriptional termination sequence. 
 
     
     
         16 . A method of increasing desiccation tolerance, drought tolerance, or water use efficiency of a plant comprising:
 transforming a plant with an artificial DNA construct comprising, as operably associated components in the 5′ to 3′ direction of transcription:   a promoter that functions in a plant;   a polynucleotide 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, or SEQ ID NO: 8, or a sequence at least 95% identical thereto; and   a transcriptional termination sequence;   wherein the transgenic plant has an increased desiccation tolerance, increased drought tolerance, or increased water use efficiency compared to a plant without the DNA construct.