Variants of Cytokinin Receptors

<strong>Technology</strong><br>

The productivity of a plant can be influenced in various different ways, e.g. by improving plant growth characteristics or by delaying leaf senescence. Cytokinins are a class of plant hormones controlling numerous aspects of plant development throughout the life cycle. <br><br> The present invention relates to two novel gain-of-function variants of the cytokinin receptors AHK2 and AHK3, namely rock2 and rock3 of Arabidopsis which can be used to generate transgenic plants overexpressing one of said new gain-of-function cytokinin receptor variants. <br><br> Compared to wild-type the Arabidopsis rock2 and rock3 mutants show:<ul> <li>Enhanced vegetative growth </li> <li>>75% increase of fresh weigth at 18 days after germination </li> <li>43% increase of rosette size </li></ul><br> Shoot height, fresh weight of stems, the number of siliques on the main stem and the number of siliques per plant were all increased between 18% and 31% in Arabidopsis rock2 mutants compared to wild-type. Transgenic rock2- or rock3- overexpressing Arabidopsis plants show increased shoot height, a higher number of siliques per plant, thicker stems and bigger flowers. <br><br> <strong>Benefits</strong> <ul> <li>Novel gain-of-function variants of the cytokinin receptors AHK2 and AHK3</li> <li>Generation of transgenic rock2 and/or rock3 plants with improved productivity and/or growth characteristics</li> </ul> <p><strong>IP Rights</strong><br> European patent granted in BE, DE, CH, ES, FR, GB, NL, SE (03/2012)<br> Patent applications pending in AU, BR; AR; CA; IN, MX, CN, US <br> Priority 06/2009 <br> <br> <strong>Origin</strong><br> The technology was developed at the Free University of Berlin (Germany).</p>

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