METHOD FOR MODIFYING PLANT MORPHOLOGY, BIOCHEMISTRY AND PHYSIOLOGY COMPRISING EXPRESSION OF PLANT CYTOKININ OXIDASE

摘要

A method of increasing seed size or weight, embryo size or weight, cotyledon size which method comprises introduction and expression of an isolated nucleic acid encoding a cytokinin oxidase thereby increasing the level or activity of a cytokinin oxidase in a plant or plant part, preferably seeds, embryos, cotyledons; which comprises introduction and expression of an isolated nucleic acid selected from the group consisting of: a. a nucleic acid comprising a DNA sequence as given in any of SEQ ID NOs: 1, 3, 5, 7,9, 11,25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33 or 34, or the complement thereof, b. a nucleic acid comprising the RNA sequences corresponding to any of SEQ ID NOs: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9,11, 25,26, 27,28, 29, 30, 31, 33 or 34, or the complement thereof, c. a nucleic acid specifically hybridizing to any of SEQ ID NOs: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 25,26, 27,28,29, 30, 31, 33 or 34, or to the complement thereof, d. a nucleic acid encoding a protein with an amino acid sequence comprising the polypeptide as given in SEQ ID NO: 32 and which is at least 70% similar to the amino acid sequence as given in SEQ ID NO: 4, e. a nucleic acid encoding a protein with an amino acid sequence which is at least 47% similar to the amino acid sequence as given in SEQ ID NO: 6, f. a nucleic acid encoding a protein with an amino acid sequence which is at least 47% similar to the amino acid sequence as given in SEQ ID NO: 10 or 35, g. a nucleic acid encoding a protein comprising the amino acid sequence as given in any of SEQ ID NOs: 2,4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 32 or 35, or the complement thereof, h. a nucleic acid which is degenerated to a nucleic acid as given in any of SEQ ID NOs: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 33 or 34, or which is degenerated to a nucleic acid as defined in any of (a) to (g) as a result of the genetic code, i. a nucleic acid which are diverging from a nucleic acid encoding a protein as given in any of SEQ ID NOs: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, or 35 or which is diverging from a nucleic acid as defined in any of (a) to (g), due to the differences in codon usage between the organisms, j. a nucleic acid encoding a protein as given in SEQ ID NOs: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 or 35 or nucleic acids as defined in (a) to (g) which are diverging due to the differences between alleles, k. a nucleic acid encoding a protein as given in any of SEQ ID NOs: