Multicellular living organisms and unmodified parts thereof and – Method of introducing a polynucleotide molecule into or...
Reexamination Certificate
2001-07-03
2004-06-29
McElwain, Elizabeth F. (Department: 1638)
Multicellular living organisms and unmodified parts thereof and
Method of introducing a polynucleotide molecule into or...
C800S320000, C800S317000, C800S323300, C800S290000, C800S298000, C536S023600, C536S023100, C435S320100, C435S419000, C435S252300, C435S468000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06756524
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the identification of a gene which controls fruit size and/or cell division in plants, the proteins encoded by that gene, and uses thereof.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In natural populations, most phenotypic variation is continuous and effected by alleles at multiple loci. Although this quantitative variation fuels evolutionary change and has been exploited in the domestication and genetic improvement of plants and animals, the identification and isolation of the genes underlying this variation has been difficult.
The most conspicuous and, perhaps, most important quantitative traits in plant agriculture are those associated with domestication (Doebley et al., “Genetic and Morphological Analysis of a Maize-Teosinte F
2
Population: Implications for the Origin of Maize,”
PNAS
87: 9888-9892 (1990)). Key adaptations to survival in the wild were dramatically modified by early humans; fruit-bearing crop plants are a prime example. Dramatic and relatively rapid changes in fruit size have accompanied the domestication of virtually all fruit-bearing crop species, including tomato, watermelon, apple, banana, grape, berries and a vast assortment of other tropical, subtropical, and temperate species (J. Smartt et al.,
Evolution of Crop Plants
(Longman Group, United Kingdom, (1995)). These changes have benefited mankind but have often been at the expense of the plant's seed production, dispersal, and survival under natural conditions. The progenitor of domesticated tomato (
Lycopersicon esculentum
Mill.) most likely had fruit less than 1 cm in diameter and only a few grams in weight (Rick, C. M., “Tomato,”
Scientific American
239:76 (1978)). Such fruit were large enough to contain hundreds of seeds and yet small enough to be dispersed by small rodents or birds. In contrast, modern tomatoes can weigh as much as 1,000 grams and can exceed 150 cm in diameter. While it is known that the transition from small to large fruit occurred numerous times during the domestication of crop plants (J. Smartt, et al.
Evolution of Crop Plants
(Longman Group, United Kingdom, (1995)) and that it is quantitatively controlled (Paterson et al., “Mendelian Factors Underlying Quantitative Traits in Tomato: Comparison Across Species, Generations, and Environments,”
Genetics
127(1):181-97 (1991)), the molecular basis of this transition has thus far been unknown.
Using the approach of quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping (Lander et al., “Mapping Mendelian Factors Underlying Quantitative Traits Using RFLP Linkage Maps,”
Genetics
121(1):185-99 (1989) published erratum appears in
Genetics
136 (2):705 (1994)); Tanksley S. D., “Mapping Polygenes,”
Annu Rev Genet
27:205-33 (1993)), most of the loci involved in the evolution and domestication of tomato from small berries to large fruit have been genetically mapped (Grandillo et al., “Identifying the Loci Responsible for Natural Variation in Fruit Size and Shape in Tomato,”
Theor. Appl. Gen.
99:978 (1999)). One of these QTLs, fw2.2, appears to have been responsible for a key transition during domestication: all wild Lycopersicon species examined thus far contain small fruit alleles at this locus whereas modern cultivars have large fruit alleles (Alpert et al., “FW-2.2—A Major QTL Controlling Fruit Weight Is Common to Both Red-Fruited and Green-Fruited Tomato Species,”
Theor. Appl. Gen.
91: 994 (1995)). What is needed to further the current understanding of the genetic regulation of fruit size in plants is the identification of the nucleic acid sequence of the fw2.2 gene and of the protein product encoded by the cDNA of that gene.
The present invention is directed to achieving these objectives.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an isolated nucleic acid molecule encoding a protein which regulates fruit size and/or cell division in plants.
The present invention also relates to an isolated protein which regulate fruit size and/or cell division in plants.
The present invention also relates to a method of regulating fruit size in plants by transforming a plant with a nucleic acid molecule of the present invention under conditions effective to regulate fruit size in the plant.
The present invention also relates to a method of regulating cell division in plants by transforming a plant with a nucleic acid molecule of the present invention under conditions effective to regulate cell division in the plant.
The present invention provides an important advance in the study of morphogenesis in plants, and provides new opportunities for understanding and utilizing natural variation. In particular, a greater understanding of the genetic regulation of fruit size and/or cell division in plants provides a means for the generation of agronomically superior crops through genetic manipulation.
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Alpert et al., “High-Resolution Mapping and Isolation of a Yeast Artificial Chromosome Contig Containing fw2.2: A Major Fruit Weight Quantitative Trait Locus in Tomato,”Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA93:15503-15507 (1996).
Brommonschenkel et al., “The Broad-Spectrum Tospovirus Resistance Gene Sw-5 of Tomato is a Homolog of the Root-Knot Nematode Resistance Gene Mi,”Mol. Plant Microbe Interact. 13(10):1130-1138 (2000).
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Alpert et al., “fw2.2: A Major QTL Controlling Fruit Weight is Common to Both Red- and Gree
Baum Stuart F.
Cornell Research Foundation Inc.
McElwain Elizabeth F.
Nixon & Peabody LLP
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