Disruption of ROCK1 gene leads to plants with improved traits

Abstract

The present invention provides a method for improving traits in a plant, like e.g. improving yield-related traits like number of flowers, number of siliques, seed yield, stem growth in a plant, the method comprising disruption of endogenous ROCK1 gene in a plant cell, wherein said disruption inhibits expression and/or activity of a product of said endogenous ROCK1 gene compared to a corresponding control plant cell lacking such a disruption.

1 . A method for producing a plant with an improved yield-related trait, the method comprising:
 introducing into the genome of a plant cell a disruption of endogenous ROCK1 gene, wherein said disruption inhibits expression and/or activity of a product of said endogenous ROCK1 gene compared to a corresponding plant cell lacking such a disruption, wherein the endogenous ROCK1 gene comprises:   (a) a nucleic acid encoding a ROCK1 protein comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 or 2 or an orthologue thereof;   (b) a nucleic acid encoding a ROCK1 protein comprising an amino acid sequence with a sequence identity of at least 55% over the entire amino acid sequence with SEQ ID NO: 1 or 2;   (c) a nucleic acid comprising one of the nucleic acid sequences with SEQ ID NO: 4, 5, 6, 7 and/or 8;   (d) a nucleic acid comprising a nucleic acid with a sequence identity of at least 60% over the entire nucleic acid sequence with one of SEQ ID NO: 4, 5, 6, 7 and/or 8; or   (e) a nucleic acid hybridizing under stringent conditions to one of the nucleic acid sequences defined under (a), (b), (c), and/or (d);   regenerating a plant having such an altered genome from said plant cell;   measuring a yield-related trait of said plant compared to a plant lacking such disruption, wherein the yield-related trait is selected from the group consisting of: number of flowers, number of siliques, shoot growth, and seed yield; and   crossing said plant having such an altered genome with another plant to introduce the disruption into said another plant.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the disruption is introduced by at least one of: structural disruption, T-DNA insertion, antisense polynucleotide gene suppression, double stranded RNA induced gene silencing, ribozyme techniques, genomic disruption, tilling, transcriptional activator-like effector nucleases, zink finger nucleases, homing meganucleases, CRISPR/Cas technology and homologous recombination. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the disruption comprises more than one disruption and all disruptions are homozygous disruptions. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the endogenous ROCK1 gene comprises:
 (a) a nucleic acid encoding a ROCK1 protein comprising one of the amino acid sequences of SEQ ID NO: 1, 2 and/or 9 to 39;   (b) a nucleic acid encoding a ROCK1 protein comprising an amino acid sequence with a sequence identity of at least 55% over the entire amino acid sequence with SEQ ID NO: 1, 2 and/or 9 to 39;   (c) a nucleic acid comprising one of the nucleic acid sequences with SEQ ID NO: 4, 5, 6, 7 and/or 8;   (d) a nucleic acid comprising a nucleic acid with a sequence identity of at least 60% over the entire nucleic acid sequence with one of SEQ ID NO: 4, 5, 6, 7 and/or 8; or   (e) a nucleic acid hybridizing under stringent conditions to one of the nucleic acid sequences defined under (a), (b), (c), and/or (d).   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plant is a monocotyledonous plant, a dicotyledonous plant, a moss or an algae. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plant is selected from a family of the group consisting of: Brassicaceae, Rosaceae, Fabaceae, Poaceae, Vitaceae, Solanaceae, Salicaceae, Malvaceae, Pinaceae, Funariaceae Rutaceae, Rubiacea, Musaceae and Selaginellaceae. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the family is Brassicaceae, Poaceae, Rosaceae, Solanaceae, Malvaceae, Salicaceae or Fabaceae. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the yield-related trait is number of flowers. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the yield-related trait is number of siliques. 
     
     
         10 . A method for producing a plant with an improved yield-related trait, the method comprising:
 introducing into the genome of a plant cell a disruption of endogenous ROCK1 gene, wherein said disruption inhibits expression and/or activity of a product of said endogenous ROCK1 gene compared to a corresponding plant cell lacking such a disruption, wherein the endogenous ROCK1 gene comprises:   (a) a nucleic acid encoding a ROCK1 protein comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 or 2 or an orthologue thereof;   (b) a nucleic acid encoding a ROCK1 protein comprising an amino acid sequence with a sequence identity of at least 55% over the entire amino acid sequence with SEQ ID NO: 1 or 2;   (c) a nucleic acid comprising one of the nucleic acid sequences with SEQ ID NO: 4, 5, 6, 7 and/or 8;   (d) a nucleic acid comprising a nucleic acid with a sequence identity of at least 60% over the entire nucleic acid sequence with one of SEQ ID NO: 4, 5, 6, 7 and/or 8; or   (e) a nucleic acid hybridizing under stringent conditions to one of the nucleic acid sequences defined under (a), (b), (c), and/or (d);   regenerating a plant having such an altered genome from said plant cell;   crossing the plant having such an altered genome with another plant to introduce the disruption into said another plant; and   measuring a yield-related trait of said another plant compared to a plant lacking such disruption, wherein the yield-related trait is selected from the group consisting of: number of flowers, number of siliques, shoot growth, and seed yield.   
     
     
         11 . A method for producing a plant with an improved yield-related trait, the method comprising:
 introducing into the genome of a plant cell a disruption of endogenous ROCK1 gene, wherein said disruption inhibits expression and/or activity of a product of said endogenous ROCK1 gene compared to a corresponding plant cell lacking such a disruption, wherein the endogenous ROCK1 gene comprises:   (a) a nucleic acid encoding a ROCK1 protein comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 or 2 or an orthologue thereof;   (b) a nucleic acid encoding a ROCK1 protein comprising an amino acid sequence with a sequence identity of at least 55% over the entire amino acid sequence with SEQ ID NO: 1 or 2;   (c) a nucleic acid comprising one of the nucleic acid sequences with SEQ ID NO: 4, 5, 6, 7 and/or 8;   (d) a nucleic acid comprising a nucleic acid with a sequence identity of at least 60% over the entire nucleic acid sequence with one of SEQ ID NO: 4, 5, 6, 7 and/or 8; or   (e) a nucleic acid hybridizing under stringent conditions to one of the nucleic acid sequences defined under (a), (b), (c), and/or (d);   regenerating a plant having such an altered genome from said plant cell;   crossing the plant having such an altered genome with another plant to introduce the disruption into said another plant; and   identifying and isolating said another plant comprising a plant cell carrying such disruption by measuring a yield-related trait of said another plant compared to a plant lacking such disruption, wherein the yield-related trait selected from the group consisting of: number of flowers, number of siliques, shoot growth, and seed yield.   
     
     
         12 . A method for producing a plant with an improved yield-related trait, the method comprising:
 introducing into the genome of a plant a disruption of endogenous ROCK1 gene by crossing a disrupted plant with a non-disrupted plant, wherein said disruption inhibits expression and/or activity of a product of said endogenous ROCK1 gene compared to a corresponding plant cell lacking such a disruption, wherein the endogenous ROCK1 gene comprises:   (a) a nucleic acid encoding a ROCK1 protein comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 or 2 or an orthologue thereof;   (b) a nucleic acid encoding a ROCK1 protein comprising an amino acid sequence with a sequence identity of at least 55% over the entire amino acid sequence with SEQ ID NO: 1 or 2;   (c) a nucleic acid comprising one of the nucleic acid sequences with SEQ ID NO: 4, 5, 6, 7 and/or 8;   (d) a nucleic acid comprising a nucleic acid with a sequence identity of at least 60% over the entire nucleic acid sequence with one of SEQ ID NO: 4, 5, 6, 7 and/or 8; or   (e) a nucleic acid hybridizing under stringent conditions to one of the nucleic acid sequences defined under (a), (b), (c), and/or (d);   identifying and isolating a plant from the cross between the disrupted plant ant the non-disrupted plant, carrying such disruption by measuring a yield-related trait of said plant compared to a plant lacking such disruption, wherein the yield-related trait selected from the group consisting of: number of flowers, number of siliques, shoot growth, and seed yield.