METHOD FOR STIMULATING ROOT GROWTH COMPRISING OVEREXPRESSING CYTOKININ OXIDASE

摘要

A method for stimulating root growth or for enhancing the formation of lateral or adventitious roots or for altering root geotropism, characterized in that the said method comprises overexpression of a nucleic acid encoding a plant cytokinin oxidase wherein said nucleic acid encoding a plant cytokinin oxidase is selected from the group consisting of: (a) nucleic acids comprising a DNA sequence as given in any of SEQ ID Nos. 27,1,3,5,7,9,11,25,26,28 to 31,33 or 34, or the complement thereof, (b) nucleic acids comprising the RNA sequences corresponding to any of SEQ ID Nos. 27,1,3,5,7,9,11,25,26,28 to 31,33 or 34, or the complement thereof, (c) nucleic acids specifically hybridizing to any of SEQ ID Nos. 27,1,3,5,7,9,11,25, 26, 28 to 31, 33 or 34, or to the complement thereof, (d) nucleic acids 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, (e) nucleic acids as defined in any of (a) to (d) characterized in that said nucleic acid is DNA, genomic DNA, cDNA, synthetic DNA or RNA wherein T is replaced by U, (f) a nucleic acid which is degenerated to a nucleic acid as given in any of SEQ ID Nos. 27,1,3,5,7,9,11,25,26,28 to 31,33 or 34, or which is degenerated to a nucleic acid as defined in any of (a) to (e) as a result of the genetic code, (g) nucleic acids 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 (e), due to the differences in codon usage between the organisms, (h) nucleic acids 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 (e) which are diverging due to the differences between alleles, (i) nucleic acids encoding a protein as given in any of SEQ ID Nos. 2,4,6,8, 10,12 or 35, (j) functional fragments of nucleic acids as defined in any of (a) to (i) having the biological activity of a cytokinin oxidase, and (k) nucleic acids encoding a plant cytokinin oxidase, or comprising expression, preferably in roots, of a nucleic acid encoding a protein that reduces the level of active cytokinins in plants or plant parts.