Co gene MdCo31 of the 'Wijcik' mutant of Malus x domestica Borkh and plants with controlled tree architecture genetically transformed by introduction of this gene

摘要

Tree architecture is an important trait of all fruit crops. 'Wijcik', a somatic mutant of the apple cultivar 'McIntosh', has been widely studied because of its interesting columnar-type growth. The present invention relates to a polynucleotide (gene sequence MdCo31) which has been isolated from 'Wijcik' and which is responsible for its columnar phenotype. The genomic region has been introduced into several plants and resulted in plants with shorter axillary shoots. The invention further relates to an expression product of said gene, to a vector, a gene construct, host cell, cell culture, recombinant expression system, or plants comprising said MdCo31 gene. The present invention also refers to the use of the gene in plants, to produce a plant having shorter axillary shoots than a control plant, and to a method for producing plants having shorter axillary shoots than a control plant.