AU2014202590C1 - Isolated Polypeptides, Polynucleotides Encoding Same, Transgenic Plants Expressing Same and Methods of Using Same - Google Patents

Abstract

Nucleic acid constructs are provided. These constructs comprise any of the nucleic acid sequences at least 85% identical to nucleotide sequences selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 68, 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 13, 16, 19, 20, 23, 24, 27, 30, 32, 37, 42, 49, 50, 51, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 64, 69, 70, 73, 77, 78, 79, 80, 84, 86, 87, 93, 94, 98, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108 and 109 and a promoter sequence capable of directing transcription of said nucleic acid sequence in a host cell. Also provided are transgenic plants expressing these nucleic acid constructs and methods of using same.

Description

ISOLATED POLYPEPTIDES, POLYNUCLEOTIDES ENCODING SAME, TRANSGENIC PLANTS EXPRESSING SAME AND METHODS OF USING SAME

This application is a divisional of Australian Patent Application No. 2012203614 filed 21 June 2012, the entire contents of which is herein incorporated by cross-reference. The subject matter of this application is related to the applicant’s International Patent Application No. PCT/IL2006/001223, filed 24 October 2006, as well as United States Provisional Patent Application No. 60/729,181 filed 24 October 2005, each of which is herein incorporated by cross-reference.

FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to isolated polypeptides, polynucleotides encoding same, transgenic plants expressing same and methods of using same. Specifically the present invention can be used to increase fertilizer use efficiency and stress resistance as well as biomass, vigor and yield of transgenic plants.

Fertilizers are the fuel behind the “green revolution”, directly responsible for the exceptional increase in crop yields during the last 40 years. The dramatic rise in crop yields could never have occurred without a parallel increase in fertilizer use. However, in recent years there has been a growing concern with the environmental impact of fertilizer use, particularly nitrogen fertilizers, on water and atmospheric pollution. Limits on fertilizer use have been legislated in several countries, and further restrictions are expected in the future. Greater use of fertilizers will be necessary in the future to support food and fiber production for rapid population growth on limited land resources.

Fertilizer is often mentioned as the number one overhead expense in agriculture. Of the three macronutrients provided as main fertilizers [Nitrogen (N), Phosphate (P) and Potassium (K)], nitrogen is the only one that usually needs to be replenished every year, particularly for cereals, which comprise more than half of the cultivated areas worldwide. A common approach to promoting plant growth has been, and continues to be, the use of nutrients (fertilizers), natural as well as synthetic. Synthetic nutrients usually provide a macronutrient in a plant-usable form, such as urea for example, and/or inorganic nitrates, phosphates, or the like compounds. While such nutrients may be applied, more or less, at the convenience of the farmer, and may be applied as often as deemed desirable, the overuse of synthetic nutrients and the inefficient use of synthetic nutrients are major factors responsible for environmental problems such as eutrophication of groundwater, nitrate pollution, phosphate pollution, and the like.

Nitrogen is an essential macronutrient for the plant, responsible for biosynthesis of amino and nucleic acids, prosthetic groups, plant hormones, plant chemical defenses, etc. Nitrogen is often the rate-limiting element in plant growth and all field crops have a fundamental dependence on inorganic nitrogenous fertilizer. Since fertilizer is rapidly depleted from most soil types, it must be supplied to growing crops two or three times during the growing season. Nitrogenous fertilizer, which is usually supplied as ammonium nitrate, potassium nitrate, or urea, typically accounts for 40% of the costs associated with crops such as com and wheat. It has been estimated that by 2050, more than 150 million tons of nitrogenous fertilizer will used worldwide annually. Increased use efficiency of nitrogen by plants should enable crops to be cultivated with lower fertilizer input, or alternatively on soils of poorer quality and would therefore have significant economic impact in both developed and developing agricultural systems. An overview of the undesirable effects of nitrogen fertilizer is presented by Byrnes, Fertilizer Research, 26, pp. 209-215 (1990). Although plants are able to take up organic nitrogen from the environment, the major part of the nitrogen utilized comes usually from the uptake of inorganic nitrogen in the form of ammonium (NH44) and nitrate (NO3·) and its later conversion' to organic nitrogen in a process known as assimilation.

The Nitrogen assimilation process begins with NCV being converted to NH41 sequentially by the enzymes Nitrate Reductase (NR) and Nitrite Reductase (NiR). The nitrogen is then incorporated into Glutamate (Glu) by Glutamine Synthase (GS) to obtain Glutamine (Gin). The major pathway of nitrogen assimilation is the GS/GOGAT cycle (Glutamine Synthase/Glutamate-Oxoglutarate Amine Transferase). The remaining amino acids are synthesized from Gin, Glu and Asn by transamination.

Nitrogen (as amino acids or in the form of nitrates) is translocated to the shoot, where it is stored in the leaves and stalk during the rapid step of plant development and up until flowering. In corn for example, plants accumulate the bulk of their organic nitrogen during the period of grain germination, and until flowering. Once fertilization of the plant has occurred, grains begin to form and become the main sink of plant Nitrogen. The stored Nitrogen can then be redistributed from the leaves and stalk that served as storage compartments until grain formation.

There are three main parameters of efficiency used to define plant Nitrogen metabolism:

Nitrogen-uptake efficiency: is the amount of N in above-ground biomass (gr Nt) divided by the amount of N applied (gr/hectare);

Nitrogen utilization efficiency: is the Grain Yield (gr/plant) divided by the amount of N in above-ground biomass (gr Nt); and

Nitrogen-use efficiency: is the Grain Yield (gr/plant) divided by the amount of N applied (gr/Ha).

The Nitrogen-uptake efficiency [the amount of N in above.ground biomass (gr Nt) / N applied (gr/hectare)] is the total amount of nitrogen incorporated by the plant and is a function of the “uptake” (the plant's transport capacity), the metabolic efficiency of the assimilation process and the rate of plant size development, since the mass of stalk and leaves created during growth are the actual Nitrogen-storage organs. The fraction of the assimilated Nitrogen found in a shoot that is ultimately transferred to the grain (yield) is controlled enzymatically, and thus a potential site for transgenic manipulation. This parameter is, in effect, equal to the Nitrogen Utilization efficiency (NUE). Better grain-to-shoot N-partitioning most likely will improve yield and protein content of the grain.

Similarly, the same calculations of use and utilization efficiencies can be made for other macronutrients such as Phosphorous (P) and Potassium (K), which have a direct correlation with yield and general plant tolerance.

The NUE for the main crops ranges from 30-70% only, having a direct negative impact on input expenses for the farmer, due to the excess fertilizer applied, which quickly becomes an ecological burden. Thus, nitrate-containing wastes represent an environmental problem of global significance. Nitrate seepage in water causes eutrophication of lakes, rivers and seas (waters endangered because of algae growth that leads to hypoxia and destruction of marine fauna). Nitrate contamination in drinking water can cause methemoglobinemia, which is especially detrimental to infants and nursing mothers. In fact, the Farming Industry is considered as the largest nitrate polluter of surface and coastal waters and drinking water supplies.

Genetic improvement of Fertilizer Use Efficiency (FUE) in plants can be generated either via traditional breeding or via genetic engineering. However, to date, neither transgenic products nor classically bred enhanced FUE material have been released for commercial use. Among the reasons for this, the most important is that breeders select their elite lines under the most favorable fertilizer conditions, thus overlooking improvements in FUE (yield being the main driver of sales and not reduction in the input costs). Attempts at transgenic solutions for improved FUE are being carried out by companies such as Monsanto (see, for example, US Patent Applications 20020046419 to Choo, et aL; U.S. Pat. Appl. 2005010879 to Edgerton et al.; and U.S. Pat. Appl. 2006 0179511 to Chomet et al), Arcadia Biosciences and Biogerama.

Recently, a review summarizing attempts to improve FUE by transgenic means that have been undertaken by academic laboratories was published (Good AG et al. Trends Plant Sci. 2004 Dec;9(12):597-605). Encouraging results were reported by Yanagisawa and coworkers (Proc Natl Acad Sci U S i 2004 May 18;101(20):7833-8) who found that a genetically engineered increase in carbon skeleton production (2-Oxoglutarate, OG from the GS/GOGAT cycle) sustained growth of transgenic Arabidopsis under low nitrogen conditions. As many enzymes are involved in carbon skeleton production, the transgene was a key transcriptional factor (Dofl) that activated multiple genes involved in the pathway. Nitrogen content was higher in the Arabidopsis transgenic plants by approximately 30 % under low nitrogen conditions. U.S. Pat. No. 6,084,153 to Good'et al. discloses the use’of a stress responsive promoter to control the expression of Alanine Amine Transferase (AlaAT). Good et al. further disclosed that transgenic canola plants improved drought and nitrogen deficiency tolerance when compared to control plants. However, neither the Dofl constructs of Yanagisawa et al, nor the drought-induced AlaAT constructs of Good et al. have been evaluated in commercial lines, under true field conditions. Hence the economic relevance of the results is yet to be proven.

There is thus a widely recognized need for, and it would be highly advantageous to identify polynucleotides and polypeptides which improve fertilizer use/uptake efficiency in transgenic plants expressing same, which are devoid of the above limitations.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a nucleic acid construct comprising a nucleic acid sequence at least 85 % identical to a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 68,1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 13, 16, 19, 20,23, 24, 27, 30, 32, 37, 42, 49, 50, 51, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 64, 69, 70, 73, 77, 78, 79, 80, 84, 86, 87, 93, 94, 98, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108 and 109 and a promoter sequence capable of directing transcription of the nucleic acid sequence in a host cell.

According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the nucleic acid sequence is as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 68, 1,4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 13, 16, 19, 20, 23, 24, 27, 30, 32, 37, 42, 49, 50, 51, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 64, 69, 70, 73, 77, 78, 79, 80, 84, 86, 87, 93,94, 98, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105,106, 107, 108, 109, 219-767, 1317, 1318, 1319, 1320,1321,1322, 1323,1324, 1325, 1326, 1327,1328,1329,1330,1331, 1332, 1333, 1334,1335 or 1336.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided an isolated polypeptide, comprising an amino acid sequence at least 85 % homologous to the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 177, 110, 113, 114, 117, 118, 120, 122, 125, 128, 129, 132, 133, 136, 139, 141, 146, 151, 158, 159, 160, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 173, 178, 179, 182, 186, 187, 188, 189, 193, 195, 196, 202, 203, 207, 210, 211, 212, 213,214, 215, 216, 217 or 218.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention there is provided a plant cell comprising an exogenous polynucleotide which comprises a nucleic acid sequence encoding a polypeptide having an amino acid sequence at least 85 % homologous to SEQ ID NO: 177, 110, 113, 114, 117, 118, 120, 122, 125, 128, 129, 132, 133, 136, 139, 141, 146, 151, 158, 159, 160, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 173, 178, 179, 182, 186, 187, 188, 189, 193, 195, 196, 202, 203, 207, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214,215,216,217 or 218.

According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the plant cell forms a part of a plant.

According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the amino acid sequence is as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 177, 110, 113, 114, 117,118, 120, 122, 125, 128, 129, 132, 133, 136, 139, 141, 146, 151, 158, 159, 160, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 173, 178, 179, 182, 186, 187, 188, 189, 193, 195, 196, 202, 203, 207, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 768-1051, 1053-1098, 1100-1315 or 1316.

According to still another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of increasing tolerance of a plant to a stress condition, comprising expressing within the plant an exogenous polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having an amino acid sequence at least 85 % homologous to SEQ ID NO: 177, 110, 113,114, 117, 118, 120, 122, 125, 128, 129, 132, 133, 136, 139, 141, 146, 151, 158, 159, 160, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 173, 178, 179, 182, 186, 187, 188, 189, 193, 195, 196, 202, 203, 207,210,211,212,213, 214,215, 216, 217,218, 1341 or 1343, thereby increasing the tolerance of the plant to the stress condition.

According to an additional aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of increasing biomass, vigor and/or yield of a plant, comprising expressing within the plant an exogenous polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having an amino acid sequence at least 85 % homologous to SEQ ID NO: 177,110, 113, 114, 117, 118, 120, 122, 125, 128, 129, 132, 133, 136, 139, 141, 146, 151, 158, 159, 160, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 173, 178, 179, 182, 186, 187, 188, 189, 193, 195, 196, 202, 203, 207, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 1341 or 1343, thereby increasing biomass, vigor and/or yield of the plant

According to yet an additional aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of increasing fertilizer use efficiency and/or uptake of a plant comprising expressing within the plant an exogenous polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having an amino acid sequence at least 85 % homologous to SEQ ID NO: 177, 110, 113, 114, 117, 118, 120, 122, 125, 128, 129, 132, 133, 136, 139, 141, 146, 151, 158, 159, 160, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 173, 178, 179, 182, 186, 187, 188, 189, 193, 195, 196, 202, 203, 207, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 1341 or 1343, thereby increasing fertilizer use efficiency and/or uptake of the plant

According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the expressing is effected by: (a) transforming a cell of the plant with the exogenous polynucleotide; (b) generating a mature plant from the cell; and (c) cultivating the mature plant under conditions suitable for expressing the exogenous polynucleotide within the mature plant.

According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the transforming is effected by introducing to the plant cell a nucleic acid construct including the exogenous polynucleotide and at least one promoter capable of directing transcription of the exogenous polynucleotide in the plant cell.

According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the at least one promoter is a constitutive promoter.

According to tether features m preferred embodiments of the invention described below, the promoter is a constitutive promoter.

According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the constitutive promoter is CaMV 35S promoter.

According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the promoter is an inducible promoter.

According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the inducible promoter is an abiotic stress inducible promoter.

According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the promoter is a tissue specific promoter.

According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the tissue is a root tissue.

According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the host cell is a plant cell.

According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the plant cell forms a part of a dicotyledonous plant cell.

According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the plant cell forms apart of a monocotyledonous plant cell.

According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the stress condition is an abiotic stress.

According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the abiotic stress is selected from the group consisting of salinity, drought, low temperature, high temperature, heavy metal toxicity, anaerobiosis, osmoticum, and nutrient deficiency.

According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the nutrient is nitrogen.

According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the plant is a dicotyledonous plant.

According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the plant is a monocotyledonous plant.

According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the polynucleotide comprises a nucleic acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 68, 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 13, 16, 19, 20, 23, 24, 27, 30, 32, 37, 42,49, 50, 51, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 64, 69, 70, 73, 77, 78, 79, 80, 84, 86, 87, 93, 94, 98, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 219-767, 1317, 1318, 1319,1320, 1321, 1322, 1323, 1324, 1325, 1326, 1327,1328, 1329, 1330, 1331, 1332, 1333,1334, 1335, 1336, 1340 or 1342.

According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the amino acid sequence is as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 177, 110, 113, 114, 117, 118, 120, 122, 125, 128, 129, 132, 133, 136, 139, 141, 146, 151, 158, 159, 160, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 173, 178, 179, 182, 186, 187, 188, 189, 193, 195, 196, 202, 203, 207, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 768-1051, 1053-1098, 1100-1316, 1341 or 1343.

According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the conditions are abiotic stress conditions.

According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the conditions are fertilizer deficiency conditions. ......According to still an additional aspect'of'the present invention there " is provided a method for irrigation comprising: (a) placing on or in a soil a dripping irrigation system so as to obtain irrigation holes distributed 20-40 cm from one another in the X and Y directions; and (b) continuously irrigating through each of said irrigation holes at an irrigation rate of 0.5-2 liter water per hour.

According to a further aspect of the present invention there is provided an irrigation system for mimicking drought conditions comprising: (i) a dripping irrigation system having irrigation holes distributed 20-40 cm from one another in the X and Y directions; and (ii) a water supply and control system for continuously irrigating through each of said irrigation holes 0.5-2 liter water per hour.

The present invention successfully addresses the shortcomings of the presently known configurations by providing polynucleotides and polypeptides which improve fertilizer use/uptake efficiency in transgenic plants expressing same.

Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Although methods and materials similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used in the practice or testing of the present invention, suitable methods and materials are described below. In case of conflict, the patent specification, including definitions, will control. In addition, the materials, methods, and examples are illustrative only and not intended to be limiting.

Definitions of the specific embodiments of the invention as claimed herein follow. According to a first embodiment of the invention, there is provided a method of increasing biomass, growth rate, tolerance to an abiotic stress condition, and/or nitrogen use efficiency of a plant comprising: (a) expressing within the plant an exogenous polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having an amino acid sequence exhibiting at least 92 % sequence identity to the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 173; and (b) selecting the plant expressing said exogenous polynucleotide for an increased abiotic stress tolerance, biomass, growth rate, and/or nitrogen use efficiency as compared to a non-transformed plant which is grown under the same growth conditions, wherein said abiotic stress is selected from the group consisting of salinity stress and nitrogen deficiency, thereby increasing the biomass, growth rate, tolerance of the plant to the abiotic stress condition, and/or nitrogen use efficiency and/or uptake of the plant.

According to a second embodiment of the invention, there is provided a method of producing seeds of a crop, comprising: (a) selecting a parent plant transformed with an exogenous polynucleotide comprising a nucleic acid sequence encoding a polypeptide which exhibits at least 92 % sequence identity to the polypeptide set forth in SEQ ID NO: 173, said parent plant exhibits an increased trait selected from the group consisting of: increased abiotic stress tolerance, increased biomass, increased growth rate, and increased nitrogen use efficiency as compared to a non-transformed plant which is grown under the same growth conditions, wherein said abiotic stress is selected from the group consisting of salinity stress and nitrogen deficiency; (b) growing a seed producing plant from said parent plant resultant of step (a), wherein said seed producing plant which comprises said exogenous polynucleotide has said increased trait; and (c) producing seeds from said seed producing plant resultant of step (b), thereby producing seeds of the crop.

According to a third embodiment of the invention, there is provided a method of increasing abiotic stress tolerance, biomass, growth rate, and/or nitrogen use efficiency of a plant, comprising: (a) expressing within the plant an exogenous polynucleotide comprising a nucleic acid sequence encoding a which exhibit at least 92 % sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 173; and (b) growing the plant expressing said exogenous polynucleotide under the abiotic stress, wherein said abiotic stress is selected from the group consisting of salinity stress and nitrogen deficiency, thereby increasing the abiotic stress tolerance, biomass, growth rate, and/or nitrogen use efficiency of the plant.

According to a fourth embodiment of the invention, there is provided a method of selecting a transformed plant having increased abiotic stress tolerance, biomass, growth rate, and/or nitrogen use efficiency, the method comprising: (a) providing plants transformed with an exogenous polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence which exhibits at least 92 % sequence identity to the polypeptide set forth in SEQ ID NO: 173; (b) selecting from said plants of step (a) a plant having increased abiotic stress tolerance, increased biomass, increased growth rate, and/or increased nitrogen use efficiency, wherein said abiotic stress is selected from the group consisting of salinity stress and nitrogen deficiency, thereby selecting the transformed plant having increased abiotic stress tolerance, biomass, growth rate, and/or nitrogen use efficiency as compared to a non-transformed plant of the same species which is grown under the same growth conditions.

According to a fifth embodiment of the invention, there is provided a method of increasing biomass, growth rate, tolerance to an abiotic stress condition, and/or nitrogen use efficiency of a plant comprising: (a) expressing within the plant an exogenous polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 173, 1041, and 1083; and (b) selecting the plant expressing said exogenous polynucleotide for an increased abiotic stress tolerance, biomass, growth rate, and/or nitrogen use efficiency as compared to a non-transformed plant which is grown under the same growth conditions, wherein said abiotic stress is selected from the group consisting of salinity stress and nitrogen deficiency, thereby increasing the biomass, growth rate, tolerance of the plant to the abiotic stress condition, and/or nitrogen use efficiency of the plant.

According to a sixth embodiment of the invention, there is provided a method of producing seeds of a crop, comprising: (a) selecting a parent plant transformed with an exogenous polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 173, 1041, and 1083, said parent plant exhibits an increased trait selected from the group consisting of: increased abiotic stress tolerance, increased biomass, increased growth rate, and increased nitrogen use efficiency as compared to a non-transformed plant which is grown under the same growth conditions, wherein said abiotic stress is selected from the group consisting of salinity stress and nitrogen deficiency; (b) growing a seed producing plant from said parent plant resultant of step (a), wherein said seed producing plant which comprises said exogenous polynucleotide has said increased trait; and (c) producing seeds from said seed producing plant resultant of step (b), thereby producing the seeds of the crop.

According to a seventh embodiment of the invention, there is provided a method of increasing abiotic stress tolerance, biomass, growth rate, and/or nitrogen use efficiency of a plant, comprising: (a) expressing within the plant an exogenous polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 173, 1041, and 1083; and (b) growing the plant expressing said exogenous polynucleotide under the abiotic stress, wherein said abiotic stress is selected from the group consisting of salinity stress and nitrogen deficiency, thereby increasing the abiotic stress tolerance, biomass, growth rate, and/or nitrogen use efficiency of the plant.

According to an eighth embodiment of the invention, there is provided a method of selecting a transformed plant having increased abiotic stress tolerance, biomass, growth rate, and/or nitrogen use efficiency, the method comprising: (a) providing plants transformed with an exogenous polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 173, 1041, and 1083; and (b) selecting from said plants of step (a) a plant having increased abiotic stress tolerance, increased biomass, increased growth rate, and/or increased nitrogen use efficiency, wherein said abiotic stress is selected from the group consisting of salinity stress and nitrogen deficiency, thereby selecting the transformed plant having increased abiotic stress tolerance, biomass, growth rate, and/or nitrogen use efficiency as compared to a non-transformed plant of the same species which is grown under the same growth conditions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is herein described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings. With specific reference now to the drawings in detail, it is stressed that the particulars shown are by way of example and for purposes of illustrative discussion of the preferred embodiments of the present invention only, and are presented in the cause of providing what is believed to be the most useful and readily understood description of the principles and conceptual aspects of the invention. In this regard, no attempt is made to show structural details of the invention in more detail than is necessary for a fundamental understanding of the invention, the description taken with the drawings making apparent to those skilled in the art how the several forms of the invention may be embodied in practice.

In the drawings: FIG. 1A is a schematic illustration describing the development of the plant root system in drought. Scarce soil humidity induces the formation of a deeper root system. The drawing is adapted from JE Weaver [Root Development of Field Crops. McGraw Hill Inc., New York, 291 p. (1926)]. FIG. IB is a schematic representation of the biological strategies chosen to improve the NUE trait and the translation of the strategies to the queries performed during computational data mining. FIGs. 2A-D show digital expression of FUE_1. FIGs. 3 A-D are graphs showing expression of control genes (Nitrogen transporters and Glutamine synthase) as a function of nitrogen content in the soil. Plants were grown in 10 liter pots with increasing concentrations of either NH4NO3 (at 0.005, 0.05, 0.5 and 5 mM) or KNC>3(at 0.01, 0.1, 1 or 5 mM). Plants were grown for approximately 30 days and tissues were snap frozen in liquid nitrogen. RNA was extracted from the tissues and later treated with DNAse. RNA was reverse-transcribed and used for quantification assays using Real Time PCR. For normalization, the expression at each point was divided by the geometric mean of the expression of four housekeeping as described in Example 2. The results shown are the ratio between the normalized expression and the expression levels measured at the highest concentration checked (5mM NH4NO3 or 5 mM KNO3). FIGs. 4A-K are graphs showing correlated expression of polynucleotide sequences of the present invention with nitrogen availability. FIGs. 5A-E are graphs showing inversely correlated expression of polynucleotide sequences of the present invention with nitrogen availability. FIG. 6 is a schematic stepwise representation of the technology used for plant rosette area quantitation from digital images. The processing step filters the green parts of the individual plants. After designation of individual ROIs (Region of Interest) the area covered by the rosette area is calculated and exported to a worksheet. FIGs. 7A-B are photographs showing the ability of polynucleotides of the present invention to increase nitrogen use efficiency. Figure 7A transgenic - T1 plants expressing FUE_504'(SEQ ID NO: 108) underthe ΤΤΪ05 promoter. Figure 7B one representative transgenic event expressing FUE_43 (SEQ ID NO: 70) under the 35S promoter. Plants were grown at very limiting nitrogen conditions (0.05 and 0.2 mM combined inorganic nitrogen). Control plants (expressing a reporter gene under the same promoter or non-transgenic plants) were treated similarly. The notorious differences in plantlet size are translated into significant differences in the measured fresh weight of the plantlets. FIG. 8 is a photograph showing transgenic plants from three independent transgenic events expressing FUE_34_Evo (SEQ ID NO: 54). The plant shows impressive branching at every node as determined by a triple blind assay. The root system from the plants was also highly branched and compact (not shown). FIG. 9 shows five independent transgenic events of plants expressing FUE_40 (also termed FUE6/40, SEQ ID NO: 11). It is clearly notable that the flowering stem is unusually upright and stiff. In addition, an unusually high number of siliques can be counted. As a result, transgenic plants expressing FUE 40 are remarkably prolific. FIG. 10 a scheme of an irrigation system in accordance with the teachings of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention is of isolated polypeptides, polynucleotides encoding same, transgenic plants expressing same and methods of using same. Specifically the present invention can be used to increase fertilizer use efficiency and stress resistance as well as biomass, vigor and yield of transgenic plants.

The principles and operation of the present invention may be better understood with reference to the drawings and accompanying descriptions.

Before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details set forth in the following description or exemplified by the Examples. The invention is capable of other embodiments or of being practiced or carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.

As the cost of Nitrogen (N) fertilizer increases and profit of crop plants production is put as risk, scientists are challenged to develop strategies that improve N use efficiency (NUE). Thus, under or over-fertilization results in a loss of profit. Lower rates of N applied result in reduced biomass as may be evidenced by reduced tillering, size, poor grain fill, reduced yields and low amino acid and protein content. Alternatively, over application of nitrogen can result in reduced yield, higher input cost and increased risk to the environment.

While reducing the present invention to practice, the present inventors uncovered through laborious bioinformatic analyses and experimentation, polynucleotide sequences and polypeptides encoded therefrom which can be used to generate transgenic plants with improved fertilizer use efficiency, stress tolerance, nutritional value (e.g.,. amino acids and protein content), biomass, yield and/or vigor.

As is illustrated hereinbelow and in the examples section which follows, maize polynucleotide sequences were selected based on several criteria (see Example 1 of the Examples section which follows). These included high levels of calculated digital expression at the root tips especially in water stressed roots (e.g., drought). A secondary filter for the above polynucleotide sequences was based on the digital expression of their orthologous sequences (i.e., dicotyledon plants or other monocotyledons species). Orthologous genes showing similar digital expression as the maize genes (e.g., root libraries of stress treated plants subjected) were selected.

Data mining and annotation tools were used to filter genes which may have broad effects on cell metabolism. For example genes which can modify root architecture, increase nitrogen storage capacity, improve nitrogen assimilation process, and enhance the stay-green trait were selected. Those genes were finally selected for molecular validation (see Examples 3 and 9). A schematic representation of the computational filters applied to identify the polynucleotide sequences of the present invention is presented in Figure IB and it is provided for illustration only.

Sequences thus identified were experimentally validated. As shown in Examples 6-11 transgenic plants expressing the nucleic acid sequences of the present invention were shown to have increased fertilizer use/uptake efficiency, tolerance to abiotic stress, biomass and yield. These results strongly support the robustness of the methodology of the present invention and substantiate the use of these genes in agriculture.

Thus, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a nucleic acid construct comprising a nucleic acid sequence at least about 70 %, at least about 75 %, at least about 80 %, at least about 81 %, at least about 82 %, at least about 83 %, at least about 84 %, at least about 85 %, at least about 86 %, at least about 87 %, at least about 88 %, at least about 89 %, at least about 90 %, at least about 91 %, at least about 92 %, at least about 93 %, at least about 93 %, at least about 94 %, at least about 95 %, at least about 96 %, at least about 97 %, at least about 98 %, at least about 99 %, or more say 100 % identical to a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 68,1, 4, 5, 8,9, 11, 13, 16, 19, 20, 23,24, 27, 30, 32, 37,42,49, 50, 51,53, 54, 55, 56,57, 58, 64,69,70, 73,77, 78,79, 80, 84, 86, 87, 93, 94, 98, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 1340 and 1342.

Nucleic acid sequences may encode polypeptide sequences comprising an amino acid sequence at least about 70 %, at least about 75 %, at least about 80 %, at least about 81 %, at least about 82 %, at least about 83 %, at least about 84 %, at least about 85 %, at least about 86 %, at least about 87 %, at least about 88 %, at least about 89 %, at least about 90 %, at least about 91 %, at least about 92 %, at least about 93 %, at least about 93 %, at least about 94 %, at least about 95 %, at least about 96 %, at least about 97 %, at least about 98 %, at least about 99 %, or more say 100 % homologous to SEQ ID NO 177, 110, 113, 114, 117, 118, 120, 122, 125, 128, 129, 132, 133, 136, 139, 141, 146, 151, 158, 159, 160, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 173, 178, 179, 182, 186, 187, 188, 189, 193, 195, 196, 202, 203, 207, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214,215, 216,217,218, 1341 or 1343.

Homology (e,g., percent homology) can be determined using any homology comparison software, including for example, the BlastP software of the National Center of Biotechnology Information (NCBI) such as by using default parameters.

Identity (e.g., percent homology) can be determined using any homology comparison software, including for example, the BlastN software of the National Center of Biotechnology Information (NCBI) such as by using default parameters.

According to one preferred embodiment of this aspect of the present invention the isolated polynucleotide is as set forth is SEQ ID NO: 68, l, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 13, 16, 19, 20, 23, 24, 27, 30, 32, 37, 42, 49, 50, 51, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 64, 69, 70, 73, 77, 78, 79, 80, 84, 86, 87, 93, 94, 98, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 219-767, 1317, 1318, 1319, 1320, 1321, 1322, 1323, 1324, 1325, 1326, 1327, 1328, 1329, 1330, 1331, 1332, 1333, 1334, 1335 or 1336........... A nucleic acid sequence (also termed herein as isolated polynucleotide) of the present invention refers to a single or double stranded nucleic acid sequence which is isolated and provided in the form of an RNA sequence, a complementary polynucleotide sequence (cDNA), a genomic polynucleotide sequence and/or a composite polynucleotide sequences (e.g., a combination of the above).

As used herein the phrase "complementary polynucleotide sequence" refers to a sequence, which results from reverse transcription of messenger RNA using a reverse transcriptase or any other RNA dependent DNA polymerase. Such a sequence can be subsequently amplified in vivo or in vitro using a DNA dependent DNA polymerase.

As used herein the phrase "genomic polynucleotide sequence" refers to a sequence derived (isolated) from a chromosome and thus it represents a contiguous portion of a chromosome.

As used herein the phrase "composite polynucleotide sequence" refers to a sequence, which is at least partially complementary and at least partially genomic. A composite sequence can include some exonal sequences required to encode the polypeptide of the present invention, as well as some intronic sequences interposing therebetween. The intronic sequences can be of any source, including of other genes, and typically will include conserved splicing signal sequences. Such intronic sequences may further include cis acting expression regulatory elements.

Nucleic acid sequences of the polypeptides of the present invention may be optimized for plant expression. Such optimized sequences are provided in SEQ ID NOs: 1317,1319,1320,1321, 1322, 1324, 1325, 1326,1327, 1328, 1329, 1330, 1331, 1332, 1333, 1334, 1335 and 1336. Examples of such sequence modifications include, but are not limited to, an altered G/C content to more closely approach that typically found in the plant species of interest, and the removal of codons atypically found in the plant species commonly referred to as codon optimization.

The phrase "codon optimization" refers to the selection of appropriate DNA nucleotides for use within a structural gene or fragment thereof that approaches codon usage within the plant of interest. Therefore, an optimized gene or nucleic acid sequence refers to a gene in which the nucleotide sequence of a native or naturally occurring gene has been modified in order to utilize statistically-preferred or statistically-favored codons within the plant. The nucleotide" sequence typically is examined at the DNA level and the coding region optimized for expression in die plant species determined using any suitable procedure, for example as described in Sardana et al. (1996, Plant Cell Reports 15:677-681). In this method, the standard deviation of codon usage, a measure of codon usage bias, may be calculated by first finding the squared proportional deviation of usage of each codon of the native gene relative to that of highly expressed plant genes, followed by a calculation of the average squared deviation. The formula used is: 1 SDCU = n= lN[(Xn-Yn)/Yn ] 2 / N, where Xn refers to the frequency of usage of codon n in highly expressed plant genes, where Yn to the frequency of usage of codon n in the gene of interest and N refers to the total number of codons in the gene of interest. A table of codon usage from highly expressed genes of dicotyledonous plants is compiled using the data of Murray et al. (1989, Nuc Acids Res. 17:477-498).

One method of optimizing the nucleic acid sequence in accordance with the preferred codon usage for a particular plant cell type is based on the direct use, without performing any extra statistical calculations, of codon optimization tables such as those provided on-line at the Codon Usage Database through the NIAS (National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences) DNA bank in Japan (http://www.kazusa.or.jp/codon/). The Codon Usage Database contains codon usage tables for a number of different species, with each codon usage table having been statistically determined based on the data present in Genbank.

By using the above tables to determine the most preferred or most favored codons for each amino acid in a particular species (for example, rice), a naturally-occurring nucleotide sequence encoding a protein of interest can be codon optimized for that particular plant species. This is effected by replacing codons that may have a low statistical incidence in the particular species genome with corresponding codons, in regard to an amino acid, that are statistically more favored. However, one or more less-favored codons may be selected to delete existing restriction sites, to create new ones at potentially useful junctions (5' and 3' ends to add signal peptide or termination cassettes, internal sites that might be used to cut and splice segments together to produce a correct full-length sequence), or to eliminate nucleotide sequences that may negatively effect mRNA stability or expression.

The naturally-occurring encoding nucleotide sequence may already, in advance of any modification, contain a number of codons that correspond to a statistically-favored codon in a particular plant species. Therefore, codon optimization of the native nucleotide sequence may comprise determining which codons, within the native nucleotide sequence, are not statistically-favored with regards to a particular plant, and modifying these codons in accordance with a codon usage table of the particular plant to produce a codon optimized derivative. A modified nucleotide sequence may be fully or partially optimized for plant codon usage provided that the protein encoded by the modified nucleotide sequence is produced at a level higher than the protein encoded by the corresponding naturally occurring or native gene. Construction of synthetic genes by altering the codon usage is described in for example PCT Patent Application 93/07278.

Thus, the present invention encompasses nucleic acid sequences described hereinabove; fragments thereof, sequences hybridizable therewith, sequences homologous thereto, sequences orthologous thereto, sequences encoding similar polypeptides with different codon usage, altered sequences characterized by mutations, such as deletion, insertion or substitution of one or more nucleotides, either naturally occurring or man induced, either randomly or in a targeted fashion.

Nucleic acid sequences of the present invention may encode previously uncharacterized polypeptides

Thus the present invention provides a polypeptide having an amino acid sequence at least about 70 %, at least about 75 %, at Least about 80 %, at least about 81 %, at least about 82 %, at least about 83 %, at least about 84 %, at least about 85 %, at least about 86 %, at least about 87 %, at least about 88 %, at least about 89 %, at least about 90 %, at least about 91 %, at least about 92 %, at least about 93 %, at least about 93 %, at least about 94 %, at least about 95 %, at least about 96 %, at least about 97 %, at least about 98 %, at least about 99 %, or more say 100 % homologous to an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 177, 110, 113, 114, 117, 118, 120, 122, 125, 128, 129, 132, 133, 136, 139, 141, 146, 151, 158, 159, 160, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 173, 178, 179, 182, 186, 187, 188, 189, 193, 195, 196, 202, 203, 207, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 1341 or 1343.

According to an embodiment of this aspect of the present invention the isolated polypeptide comprises an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of 177, 110, 113, 114, 117, 118, 120, 122, 125, 128, 129, 132, 133, 136, 139, 141, 146, 151, 158, 159, 160, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 173, 178, 179, 182, 186, 187, 188, 189, 193, 195, 196, 202, 203, 207, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218,768-1051, 1053-1098, 1100-1315, 1316, 1341 or 1343.

The present invention also encompasses sequences homologous and orthologous to the above mentioned polypeptides, fragments of the above described polypeptides and polypeptides having mutations, such as deletions, insertions or substitutions of one or more amino acids, either naturally occurring or man induced, either randomly or in a targeted fashion.

Polynucleotides and polypeptides of the present invention are used for plant expression.

The term "plant" as used herein encompasses whole plants, ancestors and progeny of the plants and plant parts, including seeds, shoots, stems, roots (including tubers), and plant cells, tissues and organs. The term "plant" also therefore encompasses suspension cultures, embryos, meristematic regions, callus tissue, leaves, gametophytes, sporophytes, pollen, and microspores. Plants that are particularly useful in the methods of the invention include all plants which belong to the superfamily Viridiplantae, in particular monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous plants which are of commercial value, including a fodder or forage legume, ornamental plant, food crop, tree, or shrub selected from the following non-limiting list comprising Acacia spp., Acer spp., Actinidia spp., Aesculus spp., Agathis australis, Albizia amara, Alsophila tricolor, Andropogon spp., Arachis spp, Areca catechu, Astelia fragram, Astragalus cicer, Baikiaea plurijuga, Betula spp., Brassica spp., Bruguiera gymnorrhiza, Burkea africana, Butea frondosa, Cadaba farinosa, Calliandra spp, Camella sinertsis, Carina indica, Capsicum spp., Cassia spp., Cent roema pubescens, Chaenomeles spp., Cinnamomum cassia, Coffea arabica, Colophospermum rnapane, Coronillia varia, Cotoneaster serotina, Crataegus spp., Cucumis spp., Cupressus spp., Cyathea dealbata, Cydonia oblonga, Ciyptomeria laponica, Cymbopogon spp., Cynthea dealbata, Cydonia oblonga, . Dalbergia monetaria, Davalila divaricata, Desmodium spp., Dicksonia squarosa, Diheteropogon amplectens, Dioclea spp, Dolichos spp., Doiycnium rectum, Echinochloa pyramidalis, Ehrartia spp., Eleusine coracana, Era grestis spp., Erythrina spp., Eucalyptus spp, Euclea .schimpen Eulalia villosa, Fagopyrum spp., Felloa sellowiana, Fragaria spp., Flemingia spp, Freycinetia banksii, Geranium thunbergi, Ginkgo biloba, Glycine javanica, Gliricidia spp, Gossypium hirsutum, Gre villea spp., Guibourtia coleosperma, Hedysarum spp., Hemarthia altissima, Heteropogon con tortus, Hordeum vulgare, Hyparrhenia rufa, Hypericum erectum, Hyperthelia dissoluta, Indigo incarnata, Iris spp., Jatropha curcas, Leptarrhena pyrolifolia, Lespediza spp., Lettuca spp., Leucaena leucocephala, Loudetia simplex, Lotonus bainesi, Lotus spp., Macrotyloma axifiare, Malus spp., Manihot esculenta, Medicago sativa, Metasequoia glyptostroboides, Musa sapientum, Nicotianum spp., Onobtychis spp., Ornithopus spp., Oryza spp., Peltophorum african urn, Pennisetum spp., Persea gratissima, Petunia spp., Phaseolus spp., Phoenix canctriensis, Phormium cookianiim, Photinia spp., Picea glauca, Pinus spp., Pisum sativum, Podocarpus totara, Pogonarthria flecki, Pogonarthria squarrosa, Populus spp., Prosopis cineraria, Pseudotsuga menziesi, Pterolobium stellatum, Pyrus communis, Quercus spp., Rhaphiolepsis umbellata, Rhopalostylis sapida, Rhu.s natalensis, Ribes grossularia, Ribes spp., Robinia pseudoacacia, Rosa spp., Rub us spp., Salix spp., Schyzacftyrium sangidneurn, Sciadopitys verticillata, Sequoia sempen'irens, Sequoiadendron giganteum, Sorghum bicolor, Spinacia spp., Sporobolus fimbriatus, Stiburus alopecuroides, Stylosanthos humilis, Tadehagi spp, Taxodium distichum, Themeda triandra, Trifollum spp., Triticum spp., Tsuga heterophylla, Vaccinium spp.,

Vicia spp., Vitis vinifera, Watsonia pyramidata, Zante.desch.ia aethiopica, Zea mays, amaranth, artichoke, asparagus, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, canola, carrot, cauliflower, celery, collard greens, flax, kale, lentil, oilseed rape, okra, onion, potato, rice, soybean, straw, sugar beet, sugar cane, sunflower, tomato, squash tea, trees. Alternatively algae and other non-Viridiplantae can be used.

Expressing the exogenous polynucleotide of the present invention within the plant can be effected by transforming one or more cells of the plant with the exogenous polynucleotide, followed by generating a mature plant from the transformed cells and cultivating the mature plant under conditions suitable for expressing the exogenous polynucleotide within the mature plant.

Preferably, the transformation is effected by introducing to the plant cell a nucleic acid construct which includes the exogenous polynucleotide of the present invention and at least one promoter capable of directing transcription of the exogenous polynucleotide in the plant cell. Further details of suitable transformation approaches are provided hereinbelow.

As used herein, the term “promoter” refers to a region of DNA which lies upstream of the transcriptional initiation site of a gene to which RNA polymerase binds to initiate transcription of RNA. The promoter controls where (e.g., which portion of a plant, which organ within an animal, etc.) and/or when (e.g., which stage or condition in the lifetime of an organism) the gene is expressed.

Any suitable promoter sequence can be used by the nucleic acid construct of the present invention. The following types of promoters are non-limiting examples of promoters used to over-express the selected genes: general promoters, root specific promoters, root-tips specific promoters, drought-induced root promoters, biotic stress-induced promoters, abiotic stress-induced promoters, nitrogen induced promoters, ammonium or nitrate induced promoters, phosphate fertilizer-induced promoters, leaf specific promoters, inducible promoters, constitutive promoters, promoters with two or more of the characteristics described above, or other novel promoters.

Choice of the promoter is based largely on the phenotype of interest and is determined by such factors as tissue (e.g., seed, fruit, root, pollen, vascular tissue, flower, carpel, etc.), inducibility (e.g., in response to wounding, heat, cold, drought, light, pathogens, etc.), timing, developmental stage, and the like. Numerous known promoters have been characterized and can favorably be employed to promote expression of a polynucleotide of the invention in a transgenic plant or cell of interest. Measures should be taken, however, to select a promoter which will mediate desirable expression levels of the transgene so as to avoid reallocating excessive energetic resources which may affect final yield, strength, mass and lodging and incidence of foliar pathogens. This should also be viewed from an economic perspective.

Suitable constitutive promoters include, for example, CaMV 35S promoter (SEQ ID NO: 1337; Odell et ah, Nature 313:810-812, 1985); Arabidopsis At6669 promoter (SEQ ID NO: 1514, PCTNo W02004/104162); TT105 (SEQ ID NO: 1339, PCT NO.: W02004/081173) maize Ubi 1 (Christensen etal., Plant Sol. Biol. 18:675-689, 1992); rice actin (McElroy et ah, Plant Cell 2:163-171, 1990); pEMU (Last et al., Theor. Appl. Genet. 81:581-588, 1991); and Synthetic Super MAS (Ni etal., The Plant Journal 7: 661-76, 1995). Other constitutive promoters include those in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,659,026, 5,608,149; 5.608,144; 5,604,121; 5.569,597: 5.466,785; 5,399,680; 5,268,463; and 5,608,142.

Suitable tissue-specific promoters include, but not limited to, leaf-specific promoters such as described, for example, by Yamamoto et ah, Plant J. 12:255-265, 1997; Kwon et al., Plant Physiol. 105:357-67, 1994; Yamamoto et al., Plant Cell Physiol. 35:773-778, 1994; Gotor et ah, Plant J. 3:509-18, 1993; Orozco et al., Plant Mol. Biol, 23:1129-1138, 1993; and Matsuoka et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 90:9586-9590, 1993. Especially preferred are root promoters such as the ROOTP promoter [SEQ ID NO: 1338; Upstream region of the gene ATXTH19 (AT4G30290, Xyloglucan endotransglucosylase/hydrolase 19, described in Vissenberg K, et al. Plant Cell Physiol. 2005 Jan;46(l): 192-200]. A variety of plant gene promoters are known to regulate gene expression in response to environmental, hormonal, chemical, developmental signals, and in a tissue-active manner. Examples of seed-specific promoters (such as the napin, phaseofin or DC3 promoter described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,773,697), fruit-specific promoters that are active during fruit ripening, such as the dru 1 promoter (U.S. Pat. No. 5,783,393), or the 2AI l promoter (U.S. Pat. No. 4,943,674) and the tomato polygalacturonase promoter (Bird et al. (1988) Plant Mol. Biol. 11: 651-662), root-specific promoters, such as ARSK1, and those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,618,988, 5,837,848 and 5,905,186, epidermis-specific promoters, including CUT1 (Kunst et al. (1999) Biochem. Soc. Tians. 28: 651-654), pollen-active promoters such as PTA29, PTA26 and PTA 13 (U.S. Pat. No. 5,792,929), promoters active in vascular tissue (Ringli and Keller (1998) Plant Mol. Biol. 37: 977-988), flower-specific (Kaiser et al. (1995) Plant Mol. Biol. 28: 231-243), pollen (Baerson et al. (1994) Plant Mol. Biol. 26: 1947-1959), carpels (Ohl et al. (1990) Plant Cell 2: 837-848), pollen and ovules (Baerson et al. (1993) Plant Mol. Biol. 22: 255-267), auxin-inducible promoters (such as that described in van der Kop et al. (1999) Plant Mol. Biol. 39: 979-990 or Baumann et al. (1999) Plant Cell 11: 323-334), cytokinin-inducible promoter (Guevara-Garcia (1998) Plant Mol. Biol. 38: 743-753), promoters responsive to gibberellin (Shi et al. (1998) Plant Mol. Biol. 38: 1053-1060, Willmott et al. (1998) Plant Mol. Biol. 38: 817-825) and the like. Additional promoters are those that elicit expression in response to heat (Ainley et al. (1993) Plant Mol. Biol. 22: 13-23), light (e.g., the pea rbcS-3A promoter, described in Kuhlemeier et al. (1989) Plant Cell 1: 471-478, and the maize rbcS promoter, described in Schaffier and Sheen (1991) Plant Cell 3: 997-1012); wounding (e.g., wunl, described in Siebertz et al. (1989) Plant Cell 1: 961-968), pathogens (such as the PR-1 proriioter described in Bucliel et al. (1999) Plant Mol. Biol. 40: 387-396, and the PDF1.2 promoter described in Manners et al. (1998) Plant Mol. Biol. 38: 1071-1080), and chemicals such as methyl jasmonate or salicylic acid (Gatz (1997) Annu. Rev. Plant Physiol. Plant Mol. Biol. 48: 89-108). In addition, the timing of the expression can be controlled by using promoters such as those acting at senescence (Gan and Amasino (1995) Science 270: 1986-1988); or late seed development (Odell et al. (1994) Plant Physiol. 106: 447-458).

Other examples of promoters are a SUC2 promoter (Truernit and Sauer, Planta. (1995) 196:564-70), and a stress-inducible promoter such as RD29A (Yamaguchi-Shinozaki and Shinozaki K. Plant Cell (1994) 6:251-264), promoters fro the PlantProm database (Shahmuradov et al. Nucleic Acids Res. (2003) 31:114-7), the rice CatB promoter (Iwamoto et al. Plant Physiol Biochem. (2004) 42:241-9), the root specific and phosphate-deficiency inducible barley promoters of the phosphate transporter gene family (HvPhtl;l and HvPhtl;2) (Schunmann et al. (2004); 55:855-65), tissue specific and constitutive promoters illustrated in patent No: W02004/081173, in patent No: US 5633363, in patent No: WO 2000/15662, in patent No: WO 2004/013169, in patent No: US 2005/010974, in patent No: WO 2005/035770, in patent No: US 2001/0047525, in patent No: US 5837848, in patent No: US 6018099, etc.

The nucleic acid construct of the present invention preferably further includes an appropriate selectable marker and/or an origin of replication. Preferably, the nucleic acid construct utilized is a shuttle vector, which can propagate both in E. coli (wherein the construct comprises an appropriate selectable marker and origin of replication) and be compatible with propagation in cells. The construct according to the present invention can be, for example, a plasmid, a bacmid, a phagemid, a cosmid, a phage, a virus or an artificial chromosome.

The nucleic acid construct of the present invention can be utilized to stably or transiently transform plant cells. In stable transformation, the exogenous polynucleotide of the present invention is integrated into the plant genome and as such it represents a stable and inherited trait. In transient transformation, the exogenous polynucleotide is expressed by the cell transformed but it is not integrated into the genome and as such it represents a transient trait.

There are various methods of introducing foreign genes into both monocotyledonoUs and dicotyledonous plants (Potrykus, 1., Annu. Rev. Plant. Physiol., Plant. Mol. Biol. (1991) 42:205-225; Shimamoto et al, Nature (1989) 338:274-276).

The principle methods of causing stable integration of exogenous DNA into plant genomic DNA include two main approaches: (i) Agrobacterium-mediated gene transfer: Klee et al. (1987) Annu. Rev. Plant Physiol. 38:467-486; Klee and Rogers in Cell Culture and Somatic Cell Genetics of Plants, Vol. 6, Molecular Biology of Plant Nuclear Genes, eds. Schell, J., and Vasil, L. K., Academic Publishers, San Diego, Calif. (1989) p. 2-25; Gatenby, in Plant Biotechnology, eds. Kung, S. and Amtzen, C. J., Butterworth Publishers, Boston, Mass. (1989) p. 93-112. (ii) Direct DNA uptake: Paszkowski et al., in Cell Culture and Somatic Cell Genetics of Plants, Vol. 6, Molecular Biology of Plant Nuclear Genes eds. Schell, J., and Vasil, L. K., Academic Publishers, San Diego, Calif. (1989) p. 52-68; including methods for direct uptake of DNA into protoplasts, Toriyama, K. et al. (1988) Bio/Technology 6:1072-1074. DNA uptake induced by brief electric shock of plant cells: Zhang et al. Plant Cell Rep. (1988) 7:379-384. Fromm et al. Nature (1986) 319:791-793. DNA injection into plant cells or tissues by particle bombardment, Klein et al. Bio/Technology (1988) 6:559-563; McCabe et al.

Bio/Technology (1988) 6:923-926; Sanford, Physiol. Plant. (1990) 79:206-209; by the use of micropipette systems: Neuhaus ei al., Theor. Appl. Genet. (1987) 75:30-36; Neuhaus and Spangenberg, Physiol. Plant. (1990) 79:213-217; glass fibers or silicon carbide whisker transformation of cell cultures, embryos or callus tissue, U.S. Pat. No. 5,464,765 or by the direct incubation of DNA with germinating pollen, DeWet et al. in Experimental Manipulation of Ovule Tissue, eds. Chapman, G. P. and Mantell, S. H. and Daniels, W. Longman, London, (1985) p. 197-209; and Ohta, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA (1986) 83:715-719.

The Agrobacterium system includes the use of plasmid vectors that contain defined DNA segments that integrate into the plant genomic DNA. Methods of inoculation of the plant tissue vary depending upon the plant species and the Agrobacterium delivery system. A widely used approach is the leaf disc procedure which can be performed with any tissue explant that provides a good source for initiation of whole plant differentiation. Horsch et al. in Plant Molecular Biology Manual A5, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht (1988) p. '1 -9. Ά supplementary approach employs the Agrobacterium delivery system in combination with vacuum infiltration. The Agrobacterium system is especially viable in the creation of transgenic dicotyledonous plants.

There are various methods of direct DNA transfer into plant cells. In electroporation, the protoplasts are briefly exposed to a strong electric field. In microinjection, the DNA is mechanically injected directly into the cells using very small micropipettes. In microparticle bombardment, the DNA is adsorbed on microprojectiles such as magnesium sulfate crystals or tungsten particles, and the microprojectiles are physically accelerated into cells or plant tissues.

Following stable transformation plant propagation is exercised. The most common method of plant propagation is by seed. Regeneration by seed propagation, however, has the deficiency that due to heterozygosity there is a lack of uniformity in the crop, since seeds are produced by plants according to the genetic variances governed by Mendelian rules. Basically, each seed is genetically different and each will grow with its own specific traits. Therefore, it is preferred that the transformed plant be produced such that the regenerated plant has the identical traits and characteristics of the parent transgenic plant Therefore, it is preferred that the transformed plant be regenerated by micropropagation which provides a rapid, consistent reproduction of the transformed plants.

Micropropagation is a process of growing new generation plants from a single piece of tissue that has been excised from a selected parent plant or cultivar. This process permits the mass reproduction of plants having the preferred tissue expressing the fusion protein. The new generation plants which are produced are genetically identical to, and have all of the characteristics of, the original plant. Micropropagation allows mass production of quality plant material in a short period of time and offers a rapid multiplication of selected cultivars in the preservation of the characteristics of the original transgenic or transformed plant. The advantages of cloning plants are the speed of plant multiplication and the quality and uniformity of plants produced.

Micropropagation is a multi-stage procedure that requires alteration of culture medium or growth conditions between stages. Thus, the micropropagation process involves four basic stages: Stage one, initial tissue culturing; stage two, tissue culture multiplication; stage three, differentiation and plant formation; and stage four, greenhouse culturing and hardening. During stage one, initial tissue culturing, the tissue culture is established and certified contaminant-free. During stage two, the initial tissue culture is multiplied until a sufficient number of tissue samples are produced to meet production goals. During stage three, the tissue samples grown in stage two are divided and grown into individual plantlets. At stage four, the transformed plantlets are transferred to a greenhouse for hardening where the plants' tolerance to light is gradually increased so that it can be grown in the natural environment.

Preferably, mature transformed plants generated as described above are further selected for the trait of interest (e.g., improved FUE, stress tolerance etc.). Examples of such screening assays are provided hereinbelow and in the Examples section which follows. Thus, for example, transgenic plants may be screened for improved nutritional value (e.g., improved oil, amino acids and/or protein content, as well as N content per se) under normal or stress conditions as will be further described hereinbelow. Alternatively or additionally, transformed and non-transformed (wild type) plants are exposed to an abiotic stress condition, such as water depravation, suboptimal temperature, nutrient deficiency, or preferably a salt stress condition. Salt stress can be effected in many ways such as, for example, by irrigating the plants with a hyperosmotic solution, by cultivating the plants hydroponically in a hyperosmotic growth solution (e.g., Hoagland solution), or by culturing the plants in a hyperosmotic growth medium (e.g., MS medium). Since different plants vary considerably in their tolerance to salinity, the salt concentration in the irrigation water, growth solution, or growth medium is preferably adjusted according to the specific characteristics of the specific plant cultivar or variety, so as to inflict a mild or moderate effect on the physiology and/or morphology of the plants (for guidelines as to appropriate concentration please see, Bernstein and Kafkafi, Root Growth Under Salinity Stress In: Plant Roots, The Hidden Half 3rd ed. Waisel Y, Eshel A and Kafkafi U. (editors) Marcel Dekker Inc., New York, 2002, and reference therein). Following exposure to the stress condition the plants are frequently monitored until substantial physiological and/or morphological effects appear in wild type plants. Subsequently, transformed plants not exhibiting substantial physiological and/or morphological effects, or exhibiting higher biomass than wild-type plants, are identified as abiotic stress tolerant plants.

Although stable transformation is presently preferred, transient transformation of leaf cells, meristematic cells or the whole plant is also envisaged by the present invention.

Transient transformation can be effected by any of the direct DNA transfer methods described above or by viral infection using modified plant viruses.

Viruses that have been shown to be useful for the transformation of plant hosts include CaMV, TMV and BV. Transformation of plants using plant viruses is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,855,237 (BGV), EP-A 67,553 (TMV), Japanese Published Application No. 63-14693 (TMV), EPA 194,809 (BV), EPA 278,667 (BV); and Gluzman, Y. et al., Communications in Molecular Biology: Viral Vectors, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York, pp. 172-189 (1988). Pseudovirus particles for use in expressing foreign DNA in many hosts, including plants, is described in WO 87/06261.

Preferably, the virus of the present invention is avirulent and thus is incapable of causing severe symptoms such as reduced growth rate, mosaic, ring spots, leaf roll, yellowing, streaking, pox formation, tumor formation and pitting. A suitable avirulent virus may be a naturally occurring avirulent virus or an artificially attenuated virus. Virus attenuation may be effected by using methods well known in the art including, but not limited to, sub-lethal heating, chemical treatment or by directed mutagenesis techniques such as described, for example, by Kurihara and Watanabe (Molecular Plant Pathology 4:259-269, 2003), Gal-on et al. (1992), Atreya et al. (1992) and Huet et al. (1994).

Suitable virus strains can be obtained from available sources such as, for example, the American Type culture Collection (ATCC) or by isolation from infected plants. Isolation of viruses from infected plant tissues can be effected by techniques well known in the art such as described, for example by Foster and Tatlor, Eds. “Plant Virology Protocols: From Virus Isolation to Transgenic Resistance (Methods in Molecular Biology (Humana Pr), Vol 81)”, Humana Press, 1998. Briefly, tissues of an infected plant believed to contain a high concentration of a suitable virus, preferably young leaves and flower petals, are ground in a buffer solution (e.g., phosphate buffer solution) to produce a virus infected sap which can be used in subsequent inoculations.

Construction of plant RNA viruses for the introduction and expression of non-viral exogenous polynucleotide sequences in plants is demonstrated by the above references as well as by Dawson, W. O. et al., Virology (1989) 172:285-292; Takamatsu et al. EMBO J. (1987) 6:307-311; French et al. Science (1986) 231:1294-1297; and Takamatsu et al. FEBS Letters (1990) 269:73-76.

When the virus is a DNA virus, suitable modifications can be made to the virus itself. Alternatively, the virus can first be cloned into a bacterial plasmid for ease of constructing the desired viral vector with the foreign DNA. The virus can then be excised from the plasmid. If the virus is a DNA virus, a bacterial origin of replication can be attached to the viral DNA, which is then replicated by the bacteria. Transcription and translation of this DNA will produce the coat protein which will encapsidate the viral DNA. If the virus is an RNA virus, the virus is generally cloned as a cDNA and inserted into a plasmid. The plasmid is then used to make all of the constructions. The RNA virus is then produced by transcribing the viral sequence of the plasmid and translation of the viral genes to produce the coat protein(s) which encapsidate the viral RNA.

Construction of plant RNA viruses for the introduction and expression in plants of non-viral exogenous polynucleotide sequences such as those included in the construct of the present invention is demonstrated by the above references as well as inU.S. Pat. No. 5,316,931.

In one embodiment, a plant viral polynucleotide is provided in which the native coat protein coding sequence has been deleted from a viral polynucleotide, a non-native plant viral coat protein coding sequence and a non-native promoter, preferably the subgenomic promoter of the non-native coat protein coding sequence, capable of expression in the plant host, packaging of the recombinant plant viral polynucleotide, and ensuring a systemic infection of the host by the recombinant plant viral polynucleotide, has been inserted. Alternatively, the coat protein gene may be inactivated by insertion of the non-native polynucleotide sequence within it, such that a protein is produced. The recombinant plant viral polynucleotide may contain one or more additional non-native subgenomic promoters. Each non-native subgenomic promoter is capable of transcribing or expressing adjacent genes or polynucleotide sequences in the plant host and incapable of recombination with each other and with native subgenomic promoters. Non-native (foreign) phlyducledtide sequences may be inserted adjacent the native plant viral subgenomic promoter or the native and a nonnative plant viral subgenomic promoters if more than one polynucleotide sequence is included. The non-native polynucleotide sequences are transcribed or expressed in the host plant under control of the subgenomic promoter to produce the desired products.

In a second embodiment, a recombinant plant viral polynucleotide is provided as in the first embodiment except that the native coat protein coding sequence is placed adjacent one of the non-native coat protein subgenomic promoters instead of a i non-native coat protein coding sequence.

In a third embodiment, a recombinant plant viral polynucleotide is provided in which the native coat protein gene is adjacent its subgenomic promoter and one or more non-native subgenomic promoters have been inserted into the viral polynucleotide. The inserted non-native subgenomic promoters are capable of transcribing or expressing adjacent genes in a plant host and are incapable of recombination with each other and with native subgenomic promoters. Non-native polynucleotide sequences may be inserted adjacent the non-native subgenomic plant viral promoters such that the sequences are transcribed or expressed in the host plant under control of the subgenomic promoters to produce the desired product.

In a fourth embodiment, a recombinant plant viral polynucleotide is provided as in the third embodiment except that the native coat protein coding sequence is replaced by a non-native coat protein coding sequence.

The viral vectors are encapsidated by the coat proteins encoded by the recombinant plant viral polynucleotide to produce a recombinant plant virus. The recombinant plant viral polynucleotide or recombinant plant virus is used to infect appropriate host plants. The recombinant plant viral polynucleotide is capable of replication in the host, systemic spread in the host, and transcription or expression of foreign gene(s) (exogenous polynucleotide) in the host to produce the desired protein.

Techniques for inoculation of viruses to plants may be found in Foster and Taylor, eds. “Plant Virology Protocols: From Virus Isolation to Transgenic Resistance (Methods in Molecular Biology (Humana Pr), Vol 81)”, Humana Press, 1998; Maramorosh and Koprowski, eds. “Methods in Virology” 7 vols, Academic Press, New York 1967-1984; Hill, S.A. “Methods in Plant Virology”, Blackwell, Oxford, 1984; Walkey, DiG. A. "“Applied Plant Virology”, Wiley, New York, 1985; and Kado and Agrawa, eds. “Principles and Techniques in Plant Virology”, Van Nostrand-Reinhold, New York.

In addition to the above, the polynucleotide of the present invention can also be introduced into a chloroplast genome thereby enabling chloroplast expression. A technique for introducing exogenous polynucleotide sequences to the genome of the chloroplasts is known. This technique involves the following procedures. First, plant cells are chemically treated so as to reduce the number of chloroplasts per cell to about one. Then, the exogenous polynucleotide is introduced via particle bombardment into the cells with the aim of introducing at least one exogenous polynucleotide molecule into the chloroplasts. The exogenous polynucleotides selected such that it is integratable into the chloroplast's genome via homologous recombination which is readily effected by enzymes inherent to the chloroplast To this end, the exogenous polynucleotide includes, in addition to a gene of interest, at least one polynucleotide stretch which is derived from the chloroplast's genome. In addition, the exogenous polynucleotide includes a selectable marker, which serves by sequential selection procedures to ascertain that all or substantially all of the copies of the chloroplast genomes following such selection will include the exogenous polynucleotide. Further details relating to this technique are found in U.S.

Pat. Nos. 4,945,050; and 5,693,507 which are incorporated herein by reference. A polypeptide can thus be produced by the protein expression system of the chloroplast and become integrated into the chloroplast's inner membrane.

Since the traits of the present invention (e.g., NUE and abiotic stress tolerance) in plants can involve multiple genes acting additively or in synergy (see, for example, in Quesda et al., Plant Physiol. 130:951-063, 2002), the present invention also envisages expressing a plurality of exogenous polynucleotides in a single host plant to thereby achieve superior NUE, tolerance, biomass and/or yield.

Expressing a plurality of exogenous polynucleotides in a single host plant can be effected by co-introducing multiple nucleic acid constructs, each including a different exogenous polynucleotide, into a single plant cell. The transformed cell can than be regenerated into a mature plant using the methods described hereinabove.

Alternatively, expressing a plurality of exogenous polynucleotides in a single host plant can be effected by co-introducing into a single plant-cell a single nucleic-acid construct including a plurality of different exogenous polynucleotides. Such a construct can be designed with a single promoter sequence which can transcribe a polycistronic message including all the different exogenous polynucleotide sequences. To enable co-translation of the different polypeptides encoded by the polycistronic message, the polynucleotide sequences can be inter-linked via an internal ribosome entry site (IRES) sequence which facilitates translation of polynucleotide sequences positioned downstream of the IRES sequence. In this case, a transcribed polycistronic RNA molecule encoding the different polypeptides described above will be translated from both the capped 5' end and the two internal IRES sequences of the polycistronic RNA molecule to thereby produce in the cell all different polypeptides. Alternatively, the construct can include several promoter sequences each linked to a different exogenous polynucleotide sequence.

The plant cell transformed with the construct including a plurality of different exogenous polynucleotides, can be regenerated into a mature plant, using the methods described hereinabove.

Alternatively, expressing a plurality of exogenous polynucleotides in a single host plant can be effected by introducing different nucleic acid constructs, including different exogenous polynucleotides, into a plurality of plants. The regenerated transformed plants can then be cross-bred and resultant progeny selected for superior traits such as NUE, abiotic stress tolerance and/or biomass, using conventional plant breeding techniques.

As mentioned hereinabove, transgenic plants of the present invention can be used for improving myriad of commercially desired traits which are all interrelated as is discussed hereinbelow.

As used herein the term "trait" refers to a characteristic or quality of a plant which may overall (either directly or indirectly) improve the commercial value of the plant.

As used herein the term "improving" or "increasing" refers to improving or increasing the trait of the transgenic plant of the present invention by at least about 2 % more, 5 % more, 10 % more, 20 % more, 30 % more, 40 % more, 50 % more, 60 % more, 70 % more, 80 % more, 90 % or more than that of the non-transgenic plant (e.g., mock transfected, or naive).

The following are illustrative examples of traits which can be improved using the polynucleotides or polypeptides of the present invention.

Fertilizer use efficiency - Although the following will be more elaborated regarding Nitrogen (N) Use Efficiency (NUE) it is to be understood that the present invention envisages increasing/improving the overall fertilizer use efficiency of all minerals and organic moieties absorbed from the soil, such as phosphates (PUE) and potassium (KUE) by the transgenic plants of the present invention.

The efficiency by which N is used by the plant is affected among other things by both N uptake efficiency and N utilization efficiency. The ratio of the amount of N uptake by the plant (or N content, kg N) over the amount of N supplied/applied (kg Ns) is an uptake efficiency (kg N kg'1 Ns), while the grain yield (kg grain) to N uptake (kg N) ratio is N utilization efficiency (NUE, kg grain kg"1 N). See Moll 1982 Analysis and interpretation of factors which contribute to efficiency of nitrogen utilization. Argon. J. 74:562-564. NUE is also affected by N losses through ammonia volatilization, nitrification-denitrification, leaching and runoff which decrease the availability of N to the plant

The present inventors realized that genes which alter root architecture can be used to improve NUE. The rationale is to position a higher fraction of the roots in deeper soil layers where the fertilizer is leached or increasing the soil coverage where the fertilizer is concentrated. This strategy was already proven successful with

Phosphorous deficiency in soybean (Miller, CR, I Ochoa, KL Nielsen, D Beck, JP Lynch. 2003. Genetic variation for adventitious rooting in response to low phosphorus availability: potential utility for phosphorus acquisition from stratified soils. Functional Plant Biology 30:973-985) and maize (Zhu, J, JP Lynch. 2004. The contribution of lateral rooting to phosphorus acquisition efficiency in maize (Zea mays L.) seedlings. Functional Plant Biology 31:949-958) and other crop plants. Root morphogenesis is dramatically affected by development programming as well as by environmental conditions. Drought leads to a pronounced downward development of the root structure to reach water located in deeper soil layers (see Figure 1A) while local nutrient availability causes a local root outgrowth increasing the total absorptive surface of the root system. The development of root systems is usually highly asymmetric and reflects the ability of roots to adjust their growth and development to environmental factors. Genes and gene expression control the developmental changes, as is the case of ANRI: a putative transcription factor with a role in NO3' signaling. Wheri ANRI is down-regulated by antisense or co-suppression, the resulting transgenic lines are defective in their root response to localized supplies of NO3' (Zhang, H.,Forde, B. G. 1998, An Arabidopsis MADS box gene that controls nutrient-induced changes in root architecture, Science 270:407). Hence, altering expression of the polynucleotides of the present invention in transgenic plants may have desirable effects on root morphogenesis, some of them could positively affect NUE and abiotic/biotic stress tolerance and/or to enhance plant yield and vigor. Specific examples include FUE7, FUE_16 and FUE_34_Evo.

Additionally selected are those which enhance intracellular storage reduce the cytosolic concentration, thereby reducing the energetic barrier for the membrane transporters responsible for the uptake of the different forms of the fertilizer. In this way, higher rates of fertilizer uptake can be obtained. Similarly, as expected from any enzymatic reaction or pathway, if the product of fertilizer assimilation is efficiently removed for the cellular milieu the enzymatic pathway building this product is expected to occur at accelerated rate leading to improved assimilation or use efficiency.

In yet another approach to improve FUE, a third group of genes was identified. Those genes are related to the biochemical pathways involved in the conversion of the inorganic fertilizer form to the organic material (assimilation process). Releasing bottlenecks in the assimilation process has granted promising effects on enhanced nutrients use efficiency, as in the case of the transcription factor Dofl (Yanagisawa Sd, Akiyama A, Kisaka H, Uchimiya H, Miwa T. Metabolic engineering with Dofl transcription factor in plants: Improved nitrogen assimilation and growth under low-nitrogen conditions. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2004 May 18;101(20):7833-8). The genes found using this approach relieve the biochemical bottlenecks leading to enhanced fertilizer use efficiency. FUE_101 and FUE_102 comprise a transporter activity and therefore may be used to improve nutrient uptake.

Storage capacity - polynucleotide and polypeptide sequences of the present invention are directed to enhance the general storage capability of the plant. The capacity for grain production is predetermined by the plants ability to absorb and store mineral nitrogen in its early phases of development (Hirel et el. Plant Physiol, March 2001, Vol. 125, pp. 1258-1270). Therefore enhanced storage capacity in the form of nitrate or amino acids highly likely will increase the grain yield. This invention includes molecular mechanisms to improve the nitrogen or any metabolic nutrient storage capacity of the plant. Examples include, amino acids, protein, starch and oil, fiber, ash, chlorophyll and mineral content.

Plant protein content is directly related to the N concentration in the grain (see Mosse 1990 J. Agric. Food Chem. 38:18-24). This is highly valuable for improving the nutritional value of food. For example, children consuming high-protein (10 %_ milled rice showed improved growth compared with children consuming average-protein (6-7 %) milled rice [Juliano (1993) Rice in Human Nutrition. IRRI and FAO, Rome]. Thus, transgenic plants displaying high efficiency in remobilMng N from vegetative parts to the edible part (e.g., grain) are highly valuable. Since the levels of nitrogen at flowering determine the grain yield, overexpression of the polynucleotide sequences of the present invention will improve the grain yield and/or enhance protein content of grain at the entire plant level. In addition, increased solute content of the plant prevents evaporation and water loss due to heat, drought, salinity, osmoticum, etc therefore providing a better plant tolerance to the above stresses. Overexpression of FUE 501, FUE 502, FUE_503, FUE_504 or FUE 49, FUE_51, FUE_52, FUE_53 or FUE__100 and FUE_101 are expected to increase the storage capacity of the tissues where they are expressed. This may lead to a stronger sink capacity, and to a better use of the fertilizer applied (particularly nitrogen) due to enhanced absorption from the soil. Since the levels of nitrogen at flowering determine the grain yield, it is expected that the overexpression of the above genes will also improve the grain yield and/or enhance protein content of grain and the entire plant protein level. In addition, increased solute content of the plant will prevent evaporation and water loss due to heat, drought, salinity, osmoticum, and the like thereby providing a better plant tolerance to the above stresses.

Delayed leaf senescence or “stay-green ” - extends nutrient uptake longer into the plant cycle providing increased capacity to store nitrogen and to provide photosynthate during grain filling. If a plant has more green leaves at the period of pollination more nitrogen will be available for redistribution to the kernels causing an improvement in fertilizer use efficiency and probably grain yield. Some of the genes presented in this invention increase the “stay green” trait or exhibit enhanced growth (faster growth and/or bigger leaves and stalks) as a mechanism to improve fertilizer use efficiency, grain yield and overall stress tolerance of the plant.

Invertase is an enzyme that is known to delay'senescence when expressed under a senescence-activated promoter (Balibrea Lara, et al. Plant Cell 16: 1276-1287, 2004). FUE_30 and FUE 31 have a predicted invertase activity and therefore can extend the stay-green characteristics of the plant and therefore increase the overall capacity to store nitrogen in plants for redistribution during grain filling.

Cytokinin is involved, among other processes, in the inhibition of leaf senescence. FUE_55 is a gene with a striking similarity to tRNA isopentenyltransferase, an important enzyme in the cytokinin metabolic pathway. Increased expression of FUE_55 in the roots or shoots will increase the levels of cytokinin leading to enhanced leaf expansion and cell duplication, delayed senescence, increased sink strength of the tissues, enhanced nitrogen utilization, etc.

Zeatin is a naturally occurring cytokinin. FUE_505 is a putative AP2 domain-containing transcription factor that based on microarray experiments it clusters tightly together with ARR genes (Arabidopsis response regulators) which mediate the response of the shoot to cytokinin. ARR genes are Zeatin responsive and are induced after nitrogen addition to nitrogen starved plants. FUE_505 co-regulation together with ARRs indicates a role in the cytokinin response. It is highly likely that constitutive expression of FUE_505 will delay leaf senescence and improve nitrogen utilization and plant growth due to continuous activation of the cytokinin response of the shoot.

Stress tolerance - Transgenic plants of the present invention are expected to exhibit tolerance to biotic and abiotic stress.

The phrase "stress" used herein refers to any adverse effect on metabolism, growth, reproduction and/or viability of a plant. Accordingly, abiotic stress can be induced by suboptimal environmental growth conditions such as, for example, salinity, water deprivation, flooding, freezing, low or high temperature, heavy metal . toxicity, anaerobiosis, nutrient deficiency (including also nutrient inaccessibility such as due to leaching), atmospheric pollution or UV irradiation. Biotic stress can be induced for example by pathogens which are found in the environment

The phrase “stress tolerance” as used herein refers to the ability of a plant to endure an stress (abiotic) without suffering a substantial alteration in metabolism, growth, productivity and/or viability. Preferably, the genetically engineered plants of the present invention exhibit at least about 2% more, 5 % more, 10 % more, 20 % more, 30 % more, 40 % more, 50 % more, 60 % more, 70 % more, 80 % more, 90 % more or even higher tolerance to abiotic stress than non-transgenic plants.

Plants are subject to a range of environmental challenges. Several of these, including salt stress, general osmotic stress, drought stress and freezing stress, have the ability to impact whole plant and cellular water availability. Not surprisingly, then, plant responses to this collection of stresses are related. In a recent review, Zhu notes that “most studies on water stress signaling have focused on salt stress primarily because plant responses to salt and drought are closely related and the mechanisms overlap” (Zhu (2002) Ann. Rev. Plant Biol. 53: 247-273). Many examples of similar responses and pathways to this set of stresses have been documented. For example, the CBF transcription factors have been shown to condition resistance to salt, freezing and drought (Kasuga et al. (1999) Nature Biotech. 17: 287-291). The Arabidopsis rd29B gene is induced in response to both salt and dehydration stress, a process that is mediated largely through an ABA signal transduction process (Uno et al. (2000) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 97: 11632-11637), resulting in altered activity of transcription factors that bind to an upstream element within the rd29B promoter. In Mesembryanthemum crystallinum (ice plant), Patharker and Cushman have shown that a calcium-dependent protein kinase (McCDPKl) is induced by exposure to both drought and salt stresses (Patharker and Cushman (2000) Plant J. 24: 679-691). The stress-induced kinase was also shown to phosphorylate a transcription factor, presumably altering its activity, although transcript levels of the target transcription factor are not altered in response to salt or drought stress. Similarly, Saijo et al. demonstrated that a rice salt/drought-induced calmodulin-dependent protein kinase (OsCDPK7) conferred increased salt and drought tolerance to rice when overexpressed (Saijo et al. (2000) Plant J. 23: 319-327).

Exposure to dehydration invokes similar survival strategies in plants as does freezing stress (see, for example, Yelenosky (1989) Plant Physiol 89: 444-451) and drought stress induces freezing tolerance (see, for example, Siminovitch et al. (1982) Plant Physiol 69: 250-255; and Guy et al. (1992) Planta 188: 265-270). In addition to the induction of cold-acclimation proteins, strategies that allow plants to survive in low water conditions may include, for example, reduced surface area, or surface oil or wax production. In another example increased solute content of the plant prevents evaporation and water loss due to heat, drought, salinity, osmoticum, and the like therefore providing a better plant tolerance to the above stresses.

It will be appreciated that some pathways involved in resistance to one stress (as described above), will also be involved in resistance to other stresses, regulated by the same or homologous genes. Of course, the overall resistance pathways are related, not identical, and therefore not all genes controlling resistance to one stress will control resistance to the other stresses. Nonetheless, if a gene conditions resistance to one of these stresses, it would be apparent to one skilled in the art to test for resistance to these related stresses. Methods of assessing stress resistance are further provided in the Examples section which follows.

The ability of the transgenic plants of the present invention to endure stress is expected to affect plant biomass, vigor and yield. The opposite is also anticipated to present good results, essentially, improved biomass, vigor and/or yield is expected to improve the endurance of transgenic plants of the present invention to stress conditions.

As used herein the phrase "plant biomass" refers to the amount or quantity of tissue produced from the plant in a growing season, which could also determine or affect the plant yield or the yield per growing area.

As used herein the phrase "plant vigor" refers to the amount or quantity of tissue produced from the plant in a given time. Hence increase vigor could determine or affect the plant yield or the yield per growing time or growing area.

As used herein the phrase "plant yield" refers to the amount or quantity of tissue produced and harvested as the plant produced product. Hence increase yield could affect the economic benefit one can obtain from the plant in a certain growing time.

To analyze the effect of the transgene on plant physiology, one can assess overall yield and biomass, the tolerance of the plants to fertilizer deficiency and to abiotic stresses such as drought, salinity, cold and heat stresses, freezing, etc. Also of great importance is to assess whether the plant at any of its parts contains an increased content of protein, free amino acids, oil and any other metabolic compounds of value.

The following summarizes assays which may be used to qualify transgenic plants or transgenes of the present invention (further description of these and other assays are provided in the Examples section which follows).

Fertilizer use efficiency - To analyze whether the transgenic plants are more responsive to fertilizers, plants are grown in agar plates or pots with a limited amount of fertilizer. The plants are analyzed for their overall size, time to flowering, yield, protein content of shoot and/or grain. An example methodology of a test for fertilizer use efficiency is provided in the work by Yanagisawa et al (Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2004; 101:7833-8) in which seeds of transgenic Arabidopsis are checked for growth rates under limiting-nitrogen conditions (for example at 0.01 mM, 0.05mM 0.15 mM, 0.3 mM, ImM, 3 mM Nitrogen in the form of nitrate or ammonium). The parameters checked are the overall size of the mature plant, its wet and dry weight, the weight of the seeds yielded, the average seed size and the number of seeds produced per plant. Other parameters that may be tested are: the chlorophyll content of leaves (as nitrogen plant status and the degree of leaf verdure is highly correlated), amino acid and the total protein content of the seeds or other plant parts such as leaves or shoots, oil content, etc. Similarly, instead of providing nitrogen at limiting amounts, Phosphate or Potassium can be added at increasing concentrations. Again, the same parameters measured are the same as listed above. In this way, besides Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE), Phosphate Use Efficiency (PUE) and Potassium Use

Efficiency (KUE) are assessed checking the ability of the transgenic plants to thrive under nutrient restraining conditions.

Nitrogen determination - The procedure for N concentration determination in the structural parts of the plants involves the potassium persulfate digestion method to convert organic N to N03" (Purcell and King 1996 Argon. J. 88:111-113, the modified Cd" mediated reduction of N03' to NO2' (Vodovotz 1996 Biotechniques 20:390-394) and the measurement of nitrite by the Griess assay (Vodovotz 1996, supra). The absorbance values are measured at 550 nm against a standard curve of NaNCh. The procedure is described in details in Samonte et al. 2006 Agron. J. 98:168-176.

Grain protein concentration - Grain protein content (g grain protein m"2) is estimated as the product of the mass of grain N (g grain N m"2) multiplied by the N/protein conversion ratio of k-5.13 (Mosse 1990, supra). The grain protein concentration is estimated as the ratio of grain protein content per unit mass of the grain (g grain protein kg"1 grain).

Oil content - The amount of oil expressed as percentage of dry weight. Oil content is defined as the maximum amount of material (lipid) that can be removed from the seed by extraction with specific solvents (usually hexane or petroleum ether). Oil content is measured directly by grinding the seed and extracting the oil in a continuous extractor. Indirect oil content analysis can be carried out using either Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Spectroscopy or Near Infrared (NI) Spectroscopy. The NMR technique measures the resonance energy absorbed by hydrogen atoms in the liquid state of the sample while NI utilizes the absorption of near infrared energy (1100-2500 nm) by the sample. While the precision of NIR methods is not as good as extraction methods, NMR methods give very accurate and precise results when calibrated carefully.

Drought tolerance assay/Osmoticum assay - Tolerance to drought is performed to Identify the genes conferring better plant survival after acute water deprivation. To analyze whether the transgenic plants are more tolerant to drought, an osmotic stress produced by the non-ionic osmolyte sorbitol in the medium can be performed. Control and transgenic plants are germinated and grown in plant-agar plates for 4 days, after which they are transferred to plates containing 500 mM sorbitol. The treatment causes growth retardation, then both control and transgenic plants are compared, by measuring plant weight (wet and dry), yield, and by growth rates measured as time to flowering.

Conversely, soil-based drought screens are performed with plants overexpressing the candidate genes detailed above. Seeds from control Arabidopsis plants, or other transgenic plants overexpressing or silencing a polypeptide of the invention are germinated and transferred to pots. Drought stress is obtained after irrigation is ceased accompanied by placing the pots on absorbent paper to enhance the soil-drying rate. Transgenic and control plants are compared to each other when the majority of the control plants develop severe wilting. Plants were re-watered after obtaining a significant fraction of the control plants displaying a severe wilting. Plants are ranked comparing to controls for each of two criteria: tolerance to the drought conditions and recovery (survival) following re-watering.

Salinity tolerance assay — transgenic plants with tolerance to high salt are expected to exhibit better germination, seedling vigor or growth in high salt. Plants differ in their tolerance to NaCl depending oh their stage of development, therefore seed germination, seedling vigor, and plant growth responses are evaluated. A salinity tolerance test is taking plants at different developmental stages and irrigate them with increasing concentrations of NaCl (for example 50 mM, 100 mM, 200 mM, 400 mM) applied from the bottom and from above to ensure even dispersal of salt. Transgenic plants are compared to control plants in their external phenotypic appearance, degree of wilting, and overall success to reach maturity and yield progeny at concentrations inhibitory to control plants. Quantitative parameters of tolerance measured are, the average wet and dry weight, and the weight of the seeds yielded, the average seed size and the number of seeds produced per plant. Osmotic stress assays (including NaCl and mannitol assays) are conducted to determine if an osmotic stress phenotype was NaCl-specific or if it was a general osmotic stress related phenotype. Plants tolerant to osmotic stress could also have more tolerance to drought and/or freezing. For salt and osmotic stress germination experiments, the medium is supplemented for example with 50mM, lOOmM, 200 mM NaCl or lOOmM, 200 mM NaCl, 400 mM mannitol.

Cold stress tolerance - To analyze cold stress, mature (25 day old) plants are transferred to 4 °C chambers for 1 or 2 weeks, with constitutive light. Later on plants are moved back to greenhouse. Two weeks later damages from chilling period, resulting in growth retardation and other phenotypes, are compared between both control and transgenic plants, by measuring plant weight (wet and dry), and by comparing growth rates measured as time to flowering, plant size, yield, etc.

Heat stress tolerance - heat stress tolerance is achieved by exposing the plants to temperatures above 34 °C for a certain period. Plant tolerance is examined after transferring the plants back to 22 °C for recovery and evaluation after 5 days relative to internal controls (non-transgenic plants) or plants not exposed to neither cold or heat stress.

Germination tests compare the percentage of seeds from transgenic plants that could complete the germination process to the percentage of seeds from control plants that are treated in the same manner. Normal conditions are considered for example, incubations at 22 °C. under 22-hour light 2-hour dark daily cycles. Evaluation of germination and seedling vigor is conducted between 4 and 14 days after planting. The basal media is 50% Murashige-Skoog medium (MS)+vitamins.

Germination is checked also at unfavorable conditions such as cold (incubating at temperatures lower than 10 °C instead of 22 °C) or using seed imbibition solutions that contain high concentrations of an osmolyte such as sorbitol (at concentrations of 50 mM, 100 mM, 200 mM, 300 mM, 500 mM, and up to 1000 mM) or applying increasing concentrations of salt (of 50 mM, 100 mM, 200 mM, 300 mM, 500 mM NaCl).

Methods of assaying plant vigor, yield and biomass are well known in the art (see Example 9 and Example 10).

The present invention is also valuable for breeding and ornamental purposes. It is thus envisaged that polynucleotides and polypeptide sequences of the present invention which are associated with root architecture (FUE_34_Evo, SEQ ID NO: 54, see also Example 11 and Figure 8) may also be used to govern plant tillering and as such may be upregulated or downregulated to govern branching and tillering. Methods of downregulating gene expression in plants are well known in the art.

Thus, the present invention is of high agricultural value for promoting commercially desired traits in crop-plants.

As used herein the term “about” refers to ± 10 %.

Additional objects, advantages, and novel features of the present invention will become apparent to one ordinarily skilled in the art upon examination of the following examples, which are not intended to be limiting. Additionally, each of the various embodiments and aspects of the present invention as delineated hereinabove and as claimed in the claims section below finds experimental support in the following examples.

EXAMPLES

Reference is now made to tire following examples, which together with the above descriptions, illustrate the invention in a non limiting fashion.

Generally, the nomenclature used herein and the laboratory procedures utilized in the present invention include molecular, biochemical, microbiological and recombinant DNA techniques. Such techniques are thoroughly explained in the literature. See, for example, "Molecular Cloning: A laboratory Manual" Sambrook et al., (1989); "Current Protocols in Molecular Biology" Volumes' I-IIf Ausubcl, R. M., ed. (1994); Ausubel et al., "Current Protocols in Molecular Biology", John Wiley and Sons, Baltimore, Maryland (1989); Perbal, "A Practical Guide to Molecular Cloning", John Wiley & Sons, New York (1988); Watson et ah, "Recombinant DNA", Scientific American Books, New York; Birren et al. (eds) "Genome Analysis: A Laboratory Manual Series", Vols. 1-4, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, New York (1998); methodologies as set forth in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,666,828; 4,683,202; 4,801,531; 5,192,659 and 5,272,057; "Cell Biology: A Laboratory Handbook", Volumes Ι-ΠΙ Cellis, J. E., ed. (1994); "Current Protocols in Immunology" Volumes I-III Coligan J. E., ed. (1994); Stites et al. (eds), "Basic and Clinical Immunology" (8th Edition), Appleton & Lange, Norwalk, CT (1994); Mishell and Shiigi (eds), "Selected Methods in Cellular Immunology", W. H. Freeman and Co., New York (1980); available immunoassays are extensively described in the patent and scientific literature, see, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,791,932; 3,839,153; 3,850,752; 3,850,578; 3,853,987; 3,867,517; 3,879,262; 3,901,654; 3,935,074; 3,984,533; 3,996,345; 4,034,074; 4,098,876; 4,879,219; 5,011,771 and 5,281,521; "Oligonucleotide Synthesis" Gait, M. J., ed. (1984); “Nucleic Acid Hybridization" Hames, B. D., and Higgins S. J., eds. (1985); "Transcription and Translation" Hames, B. D., and Higgins S. J., Eds. (1984); "Animal Cell Culture" Freshney, R. I., ed. (1986); "Immobilized Cells and Enzymes" IRL Press, (1986); "A Practical Guide to Molecular Cloning" Perbal, B., (1984) and "Methods in Enzymology" Vol. 1-317, Academic Press; "PCR Protocols: A Guide To Methods And Applications", Academic Press, San Diego, CA (1990); Marshak et al., "Strategies for Protein Purification and Characterization - A Laboratory Course Manual" CSHL Press (1996); all of which are incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein. Other general references are provided throughout this document. The procedures therein are believed to be well known in the art and are provided for the convenience of the reader. All the information contained therein is incorporated herein by reference. EXAMPLE 1

Polynucleotide identification and gene role prediction using bioinformatics and molecular tools

Polynucleotides, suitable for increasing FUE and/or abiotic or biotic stress tolerance were identified by in-depth analysis of RNA expression profiles, sequence similarities, gene annotations, biochemical pathways, DNA, ESTs, protein and expression databases, which are publicly available and used as input data to a series of proprietary computational algorithms that allow expert data mining.

Trait association was performed using accurate expression profiling by means of quantitative Real Time PCR, to correlate between the expression levels in different tissues and under specific growth conditions for elucidating the function of the expressed polynucleotide.

Materials and Methods

Identifying polynucleotide sequences associated with increased FUE

The present methodology is based on three stages described in the following examples, essentially the bioinformatic filtering, molecular analysis and in planta validation. Infra is a description of the bioinformatic algorithm. A. Bioinformatic filtering:

Clustering DNA sequences into gene clusters - The aim of EST (Expressed Sequence Tag) clustering is to incorporate all ESTs that share a transcript or gene parent to the same cluster. Typically, clustered ESTs are assembled into one or more consensus sequences (contigs) that reflect the transcript diversity, providing these contigs such that the information they contain most truly reflects the sampled biology. A gene cluster is fragmented, EST data and (if known) gene mRNA sequence data, • consolidated, placed in correct context and indexed by gene such that all expressed data concerning a single gene is in a single index class, and each index class contains the information for only one gene (Burke et al, 1999, D2_cluster: A Validated Method for Clustering EST and Full-length cDNA Sequences. Genome Research, 9(11),1135-1142). The Compugen LEADS™ platform (http://www.cgen.com/research/Publications/LEADSwhitepaper.pdfl was used for the assembly.

Calculating the digital expression for all the gene clusters in several plant species - Digital expression, also known as electronic northern blot, compares occurrences of large number of random ESTs from non-normalized cDNA libraries. The variation in the relative frequency of those tags, stored in databases, is then used to elucidate the differential expression of the corresponding genes. Digital Northern data can be used to provide quantitative assessment of differential expression between different organs in the plant or at different physiological states (stress versus normal). This tool displays virtual expression profiles of genes based on the EST sequences forming the cluster. The tool can provide the expression profile of a cluster in terms of plant anatomy (i.e., in what tissues/organs is the gene expressed), developmental stage (i.e., the developmental stages at which a gene can be found) and profile of treatment (i.e., provides the physiological conditions under which a gene is expressed such as drought, cold, pathogen infection and the like). Given a random distribution of ESTs iii the different clusters, the digital expression provides a probability value that describes the probability of a cluster having a total of N ESTs to contain X ESTs from a certain collection of libraries. For the probability calculations the following is taken into consideration: a) the number of ESTs in the cluster, b) the number of ESTs originating from a specific library or a group of related libraries, c) the overall number of ESTs available representing the species. In this way clusters with low probability values are highly enriched with ESTs from the group of libraries of interest indicating a specialized expression. In addition, a proprietary vocabulary (limited compendium of terms) is used that takes into consideration the annotation of each EST library and uses specific keywords to describe the experimental data associated with the sequences with regards to tissue type, treatment and developmental stages. The terms chosen from the proprietary vocabulary are combined with the calculated digital expression to build an expression profile for each specific gene, based on the source of the libraries that provide the sequences to the gene cluster. A statistic and graphic representation of this profile is built for the digital expression calculations. Because the annotations are from a controlled vocabulary, the entire database is dissected with specific keywords describing specific tissues, developmental stages or treatments.

Integrating all relevant data for each gene, including expression data from microarray experiments, digital expression, annotation, ontology, gene families, conserved motifs and the like - A proprietary tool that creates groups of orthologous genes from genomic databases from multiple plant species is used. In order to provide further support to the genes identified, orthologous genes or the orthologous group is tested as a whole to see involvement of the trait of interest according to the keywords that are most significant in their calculated digital expression.

Gene selection - This is done according to several biologically sound assumptions to query the database described above. Gene selection is done by filtering specific groups of genes using carefully selected criteria. The final set of genes should contain a limited number of genes, which one could handle in the following molecular analysis and transgenic experiments. The different criteria utilized herein are described with great detail for each gene below.

Gene selection for this invention takes into consideration several concepts widely accepted in plant science. Nutrient deficiencies cause adaptations of the root architecture, particularly notably for example is the root proliferation within nutrient rich patches to increase nutrient uptake. Nutrient deficiencies cause also the activation of plant metabolic pathways which maximize the absorption and assimilation processes. In this process, genes are triggered and activated causing the architectural change (Jose Lopez-Bucio et al, The role of nutrient availability in regulating root architecture, Current Opinion in Plant Biology 2003, 6:280-287). Engineering the expression of the triggered genes may cause the plant to exhibit the architectural changes and enhanced metabolism also under other conditions. Second, it is widely known that the plants usually respond to drought by creating a deeper root system that allows access to moisture located in deeper soil layers (Morgan, J.M., and A.G. Condon. 1986. Water use, grain yield, and osmoregulation in wheat. Aust. J. Plant

Physiol. 13:523-532 and Yiwei Jiang and Bingru Huang, 2001, Crop Science 41:1168-1173). Triggering this effect will allow the plants to access nutrients located in deeper soil horizons particularly those readily dissolved in water like nitrates. Third, different abiotic stresses (e.g., drought, osmoticum, cold, heat, radiation, salinity, nutrient deficiencies, and the like) elicit their response using both: stress-specific as well as common stress pathways (Gabriela M. Pastori and Christine H. Foyer, Common Components, Networks, and Pathways of Cross-Tolerance to Stress, Plant Physiol, June 2002, Vol. 129, pp. 460-468). This provides the possibility to distinguish between the genes that are involved in each pathway.

The plant response to stress is costly in terms of energy as such affecting plant yield. Precise engineering of specific genes provides the ability to activate only partially a stress response without causing the concomitant loss in yield. Accordingly, several queries to distinguish the genes that are activated during the common and stress-specific responses were performed. Since some of the plant responses such as • enhanced root system Or superior storage capabilities are highly preferred also at optimal growing conditions, the present invention envisages to create modified plants with improved FUE that show in addition also enhanced response to other abiotic plant stresses that cause adverse effects on yield.

For the purpose of the identification FUE improving genes, 416899 EST and 23563 mRNA transcript sequences from Maize were extracted from Genbank release 145 (December 2004), cleaned by screening for vectors, low-complexity sequences and known repeats from public databases, and then clustered and assembled into contigs using Compugen’s LEADS platform.

The EST libraries in Genbank 146 for Maize and other species such as Soybean, Tomato, Barley, Sorghum, Rice, Cotton, Wheat and Arabidopsis were examined and annotated using keywords describing the plant tissue used, the treatment applied to grow the plants and the developmental stage of the plants when the tissues were taken. A significance value was assigned to the frequency of ESTs in each contig from each EST library or set of libraries sharing the same annotation. The significance value was based on a statistical test that takes into account the number of ESTs from the given category in the contig, the number of these ESTs in the whole production, the size of the contig and the total number of ESTs in the production.

In addition Arabidopsis microarray experiments, freely available at the Nottingham Arabidopsis Stock Centre (NASC, http://affvmetrix.arabidopsis.info/) comprising experiments describing anatomy, development and various stress experiments were integrated. To link the contigs of the LEADS Maize production to the corresponding cluster from other species orthologue finder algorithm was employed that uses among other filters, reciprocal BLAST analysis to identify the most similar gene in other plant species.

The following describes the parameters which were used for selecting each gene. Table 1 below associates internal identifiers (NUE_XXX or FIJE XXX which are interchangeably used) to SEQ ID Nos. __Table 1 ____

Of note, overexpression Fold (“Fold”) is calculated as the ratio between the number of ESTs found in a gene or an orthologue group for a certain category (“Keyword”) and the number of expected ESTs according to a normal distribution. A probabilistic value (P-value) was estimated for the calculated overexpression folds. Genes were selected based on the results presented here and other computational filtering combined with manual curation as detailed above. FUE_1 was selected for its strong root expression in maize (as shown in Table 2 and Figure 2A and 2B), as well as the expression pattern of its orthologues such as in soybean and rice (as shown in Table 3 and Figure 2C and 2D). In addition, FUE l displays some homology to RCc3 protein (GENEBANK Accession NO. L27208) a known root specific protein putatively associated with lipid transport. _____Table 2: Digital expression of FUE 1 in maize: Anatomy

Table 3: Digital expression of FUE 1 ortholog group: Anatomy

FUE 2 is a protein of unknown function displaying a digital expression 5 linking it to roots and particularly to roots under drought stress. FUR_3 is a putative non-specific lipid transfer protein expressed particularly in roots in maize (Table 4 and Table 5), but also in barley and rice. Its expression in roots under drought is conserved throughout evolution in sorghum, maize, rice and barley (as shown in Table 6 and 7). There are indications that the gene is expressed 10 also under salinity stress in barley and rice and under nitrogen deficiency in barley.

Table 4: Digital expression ofFUE_3 in maize: Anatomy

Table 5: Digital expression of FUE_3 in maize: Treatment

Table 6: Digital expression of FUE_3 ortholog group: Anatomy

Table 7: Digital expression of FUE_3 ortholog group: Treatment

FUE_4 is also a protein of unknown function displaying specific digital expression under drought stress (as shown in Table 8 and 9).

Table 8: Digital expression ofFUE_4 in maize: Anatomy

Table 9: Digital expression of FUE4 in maize: Treatment

FUE_5 is a Ubiquinol-cytochrome C reductase complex like protein expressed under several stresses and particularly under drought and salinity in maize (as shown in Table 10) and rice roots.

Table 10: Digital expression of FUE_5 in maize: Treatment

FUE6 displays homology to a multiple stress-associated zinc-finger protein, expressed in maize during grain development and in roots, particularly under drought stres§.(as shownJn Tables 11 and-12 respectively). The present inventors uncovered that FUE 6 and FUE40 are part of the same transcript. FUE 6 represents the 5' region of the transcript, while FUE_40 the 3' region. For convenience, this transcript is presented in this herein under the name FUE_40.

Table 11: Digital expression of FUE_6 in maize: Anatomy

Table 12: Digital expression ofFUEj6 in maize: Treatment

Ϊ

FUE_7 is a hypothetical protein displaying similarity to antifreeze protein expressed predominantly in barley and maize in roots and with a more evident expression during drought, stress (as shown in Table 13 and 14).

Table 13: Digital expression of FUE_ 7 ortholog group: Anatomy

Table 14: Digital expression of FUEJ7 ortholog group: Treatment

FUE 8 displays homology to Acyl-ACP thioesterase and expressed in maize roots under drought stress (as shown in Table 15). The sorghum and rice orthologues show also a clear association to drought as revealed by the source of the sequences composing the genes.

Table 15: Digital expression of FUE 8 in maize: Anatomy

FUE 9 is a hypothetical protein expressed in maize roots under drought stress.

FUE_10 displays homology to electron transport-associated proteins, displaying a strong root expression solely associated to drought in maize (as shown in Table 16 and 17) and to other abiotic stresses as found for its orthologue expression in soybean.

Table 16: Digital expression of FUE_10 in maize: Anatomy

Table 17: Digital expression of FUE_10 in maize: Treatment

FUE_11 displays homology to the physical impedance induced protein and is expressed in maize in roots also during drought stress. FUE_12 is an unknown protein expressed in maize roots under water stress (drought) and in other abiotic stresses such as drought in barley and under nitrogen deficiency and heat stress in sorghum. FUE_13 displays homology to Pathogenesis-related protein 10, and is expressed in different stresses in maize (drought, pathogens as Fusarium). The barley and rice orthologues are strongly expressed particularly under abiotic and biotic stresses linking this protein to the ubiquitous plant response to stress. FUE_14 is a maize protein displaying homology to Germin-like protein 6. The digital expression of its barley orthologue links this protein to pathogen response, as well as drought and nitrogen deficiency response. FUE_15 is a putative auxin-regulated protein also expressed in maize roots. Its orthologues from barley, rice and are related to drought as well as other biotic and abiotic stresses such as pathogen response. In tomato and soybean, the protein is linked to the response to pathogens and nutrient deficiencies. FUE_16 is an Uclacyanin 3-like protein, expressed strongly in maize roots under water stress (as shown in Table 18 and 19). Its orthologues from barley, rice, soybean and tomato are also expressed in roots but involved in the response to other several biotic and abiotic stresses particularly to light response (as shown in Table 20 and 21).

Table 18: Digital expression of FUE_16 in maize: Anatomy

Table 19: Digital expression of FUE16 in maize: Treatment

Table 20: Digital expression of FUE16 ortholog group: Anatomy

Table 21: Digital expression of FUE_16 ortholog group: Treatment

FUE_17 is a hypothetical protein displaying a digital expression in maize and other plant species linking it to a response to drought (maize, barley and sorghum), to pathogens (rice, soybean and tomato) and to nitrogen deficiency and water-logging in barley. FUE 30 and FUE_31 were selected because of their annotation and the significant EST content derived from root particularly, in the case., of EUE_3.0. ... FUE_30 and FUE 31 have a predicted invertase activity, an enzyme which is known to delay senescence when expressed under a senescence-activated promoter (Balibrea Lara, et al. Plant Cell 16: 1276-1287, 2004). FUE_30 can extend the stay-green characteristics of the plant and therefore increase the overall capacity to store nitrogen in plants for redistribution during grain Filling. FUE_32 is annotated as major intrinsic like protein and its wheat orthologue contains several sequences isolated from root. In addition, the maize gene selected shows homology to Brevis Radix. Brevis Radix is a novel regulator of cell proliferation and elongation that when inactive it creates plants with shorter roots (Mouchel at al., Genes and Development Vol. 18:700-714,2004). FUE_54 displays homology to an Auxin responsive protein. The genes contain a significant EST annotation from roots and stressed tissues, as well as its best orthologue from sorghum and rice that are specially expressed under stress conditions and probably enriched in the root. - FUE_33 and FUE_100 encode for nitrilases. Nitrilase is an important enzyme in the auxin biosynthetic pathway that converts 3-indoleacetonitrile to 3-indole-acetic acid (auxin). Increased expression of Nitrilases in the root will enlarge the overall auxin levels and induce root elongation, secondary root formation, enhanced gravitropic response, etc. FUE_34 and FUE_35 as well as FUE_46 and FUE_47 are probable transcription factors both expressed particularly in stressed roots as judged by the EST libraries providing the sequences of the genes. As these transcription factors are highly associated with water stressed libraries it may occur that modifying the expression of these genes will activate the genes that induce the structural and metabolic changes associated with stresses. FUE_36, FUE 37 and FUE 38 show some degree of similarity to ABA-responsive genes and/or stress annotated genes, and have a significant content of sequences derived from root libraries. FUE_36 has probably protein kinase activity with a striking similarity to a SAPK8, a protein that its expression levels are increased during ABA treatment or under salinity conditions, demonstrating a role in the stress response.'FUEJ3 7 has almost, all fire, sequences derived from root and particularly root under water stress (as shown in Tables 22 and 23). The orthologues from barley, wheat and sugar cane also support the contention that the gene is mainly expressed in roots. There are indications that this gene is implicated in the response to water stress deprivation, hyperosmotic salinity response, cold and other stresses.

Table 22: Digital expression of FUE37 ortholog group: Anatomy

Table 23: Digital expression of FUE_37 ortholog group: Treatment

FUE_38 is derived from various stressed root libraries (as shown in Tables 24 and 25) and displays a notorious similarity to PKABAi. PKABA1 transcript levels are barely detectable in growing seedlings but are induced dramatically when plants are subjected to dehydration, cold and osmotic stress (Holappa LD and Walker-Simmons MK Plant Physiol. Vol. 108:1203-1210, 1995). A modified expression pattern for this gene can provide increased abiotic stress tolerance, increased vigor, increased yield and better use efficiency of fertilizers.

Table 24; Digital expression of FUEJS8 ortholog group; Anatomy

Table 25: Digital expression of FUE_38 ortholog group: Treatment

FUE_48 was selected using microarray Arabidopsis expression data available at (http://affymetrix.arabidopsis.info/narravs/supersearch.pl?searchterrns=afgh). Genes with enriched expression in roots and highly responsive to ABA and abiotic stresses (salinity, osmoticum and cold) were identified. One of the genes had an orthologue in maize (FUE 48) that showed enhanced content of root-derived sequences. The probable sorghum orthologue is a gene mainly composed by stress-derived sequences, particularly from water stress and drought conditions (as shown in Table 26). FUE 48 shows similarity to SIP (Seed Imbibition Protein).

Table 26: Digital expression of FUE48 ortholog group: Treatment

FUE39 is a root-expressed calcineurin B-like Ca.^ binding protein. Calcineurins are Ca** sensing protein kinases differentially regulated by stress conditions such as salt, drought, cold, and wounding stress. Calcium is involved in several root important behaviors such as gravitropism, hydrotropism, etc and is an important second messenger for various signal transduction pathways. Continuous activation of the protein cascade in which FUE 39 is involved can provide advantageous properties or desired traits compared to a reference plant, including improved abiotic stress tolerance, increased vigor and yield, improved use of fertilizer, etc. FUE40 and FUE_41 are genes expressed in roots particularly at stress conditions. Hie sorghum orthologue of FUE40 has several sequences derived from stressed tissues including roots. FUE_41 and FUE_40 show similarity to stress-responsive proteins. FUE_43, FUE_44 and FUE 45 have a distant similarity to an E. coli universal stress protein and their composing sequences contain a significant fraction of root stressed tissues (as shown in Table 27 for FUE_43 and in Table 28 for FUE_44). FUE 43 shows similarity to an ethylene-responsive protein. FUE_44 and FUE_45 show a weak similarity to an early nodulin-like protein. Those proteins expressed ectopically under a different promoter are likely to produce favorable effects in the transgenic plants such as enhanced stress tolerance, improved growth at optimal and adverse conditions mainly due to probable modifications in the root architecture.

Table 27: Digital expression of FUE_43 ortholog group: Treatment

Table 28: Digital expression of FUE_44 ortholog group: Treatment

FUE_50 was selected using microarray Arabidopsis expression data in which root specific genes were selected if they were also auxin and ethylene responsive. According to the calculated digital expression, the maize orthologue presented in this invention is expressed in roots under water stress conditions and in pathogenesis related tissues. The maize gene shows similarity to nodulin, a protein known to be involved during nodule and lateral root development (Papadopoulou et al. Plant Mol Biol. 1996; 30:403-17). FUE_501 is a putative Arabidopsis thaliana amino acid transporter that shows increased expression under salinity, osmoticum and is also Abscisic acid responsive (ABA - abiotic stress response hormone). FUE 51, a maize homologue of FUE 501 is composed mainly by sequences derived from stressed root sequences and has a tentative annotation as an amino acid transporter. The sorghum orthologue of FUE_51 is involved in stress responses according to the digital expression Its barley orthologue has sequences derived from roots and stressed roots. Also the wheat orthologue shows several sequences derived from root. FUE_502 is a putative amino acid transporter which shows increased expression during salinity stress and osmoticum both in roots and shoots. FUE_52, its closest maize orthologue, has also similarity to amino acid transport proteins and has a significant representation of root and stressed root derived sequences. FUE 503 has an impressive expression in seeds suggesting a strong role in uptake of amino acids into the developing seeds. In addition the gene is strongly upregulated under salinity and in response to methyl jasmonate. FUE_504 was chosen because of its strong response to ABA, to salinity (specially of the shoot), to osmoticum, and cold. FUE_49 shows a strong similarity at the level of translated amino acids to FUE_504 but low at the level of coding nucleotides. Its sorghum orthologue has sequences significantly derived from water stress/drought libraries. FUE_53 is a putative amino acid transporter with almost of all the sequences composing the genes derived from root and particularly stressed roots. The sorghum, rice and wheat orthologues contain several sequences derived from root and root under stress libraries. FUE_101 and FUE_102 show similarity to amino acid transporters. F.UE_102 is specifically composed from sequences derived from cold treated seedlings and pathogen infected com ear tip. FUE_55 is a gene with a striking similarity to tRNA isopentenyltransferase, an important enzyme in the cytokinin metabolic pathway. Increased expression of FUE 55 in the roots or shoots will increase the levels of cytokmin leading to enhanced leaf expansion and cell duplication, delayed senescence, increased sink strength of the tissues, enhanced nitrogen utilization, etc. FUE55 is particularly expressed in the endosperm, a tissue that is probably the strongest sink in the plant. FUE_505 is a putative AP2 domain-containing transcription factor present in two important list of genes. One list contains the genes that are Zeatin responsive (Zeatin is a naturally occurring cytokinin) while the second list of genes contains nitrogen induced genes after nitrogen addition to nitrogen starved plants (Wang et aL, Plant Physiology, June 2003, Vol. 132, pp. 556-567). FUE_505 was found in the cluster of the ARR (Arabidopsis response regulators) which mediate the response of the shoot to cytokinin. Root cytokinin production increase upon nitrogen availability (Yamada et al. FEBS Lett. Vol. 436, pp:76-80, 1998). Its co-regulation together with ARRs indicates a possible role in the cytokinin response. It is highly likely that constitutive expression of FUE_505 will improve nitrogen utilization and plant growth due to continuous activation of the cytokinin response of the shoot. EXAMPLE 2 ntRNA expression of in-silico expressed polynucleotides mRNA levels are determined using reverse transcription assay followed by quantitative Real-Time PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis. RNA levels are compared between different tissues, developmental stages, growing conditions and/or different genetic backgrounds. A correlation analysis between mRNA levels in different experimental conditions/genetic backgrounds as evidence for the role of the gene in the plant. Methods RT-PCR analysis - Root and leaves were excised fresh from maize plants grown on 10 liter white buckets filled with Vermiculite Size 3. Buckets were watered with tap water until seeds from a commercial hybrid germinated. During the entire growth period (5 weeks), the. plants were irrigated with 2 liter/bucket/day with a solution pH 5.7 - 5.8 containing 2mM CaCl2, ImM MgSCU, ImM KH2PO4, 7mM KCl and microelements cocktail. Ammonium nitrate was added at the following concentrations: 5 mM, 0.5 mM, 0.05 mM, 0.005 mM or not at all. For experiments with Potassium nitrate instead of ammonium nitrate, die concentrations were as follow 2mM CaCl2, 2 mM MgS04, 1 mM KH2PO4, 5mM KCl, and either one of the following concentrations of KNO3: 5mM, ImM, 0.1 mM, 0.01 mM, maintained to a final concentration of potassium of 10 mM with supplemental concentrations of KCl.

Quantitative Real Time RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) - To verify the levels of expression, specificity and trait-association, Reverse Transcription followed by quantitative Real-Time PCR (qRTPCR) was effected on total RNA extracted from several parts of the plant including for example mature and juvenile leaves, roots and root meristems, husks, tassels, silks, etc. from plants grown on soil or pots under optimal or nutrient deficient conditions as described above. Messenger RNA (mRNA) levels are measured for all the genes, previously predicted bioinformatically to be associated with Fertilizer Use Efficiency and correlation between expression levels and the plant nutrient status was analysed. Total RNA was extracted from leaves or roots of maize, using RNeasy plant mini kit (Qiagen, Germany) using the protocol provided by the manufacturer. Reverse transcription was performed using 1.5 pg total RNA, using 300 U Super Script II Reverse Transcriptase enzyme (Invitrogen), 225 ng random deoxynucleotide hexamers (Invitrogen), 500 μΜ dNTPs mix (Takara,

Japan), 0.2 volume of x 5 RT buffer (Invitrogen), 0.01M DTT, 60U RNAsin (Promega), DEPC treated DDW was added up to 37.5 μΐ. RT reactions were incubated for 50 min at 42 °C, followed by 70 °C for 15 min. cDNA was diluted 1:20 in Tris EDTA, pH=8. 5mL of the diluted cDNA was used for qRT-PCR.

Quantitative RT-PCR was performed on cDNA (5 pL), using x 1 SYBR GREEN PCR master mix (Applied Biosystems), forward and reverse primers 0.3 μΜ each, and DDW was added up to 20 pL. qPCR reaction was performed in a Stratagene MX 3000 real-time PCR machine with the following conditions 50 °C for 2min, 95 °C for lOmin, 40 times of 95 °C for 15 sec and lmin at 60 °C, followed by 95 °C for 15 sec, 60 °C for 60 sec, and 70 times of 60 °C for 10 sec +0.5 °C increase in each cycle. For each gene, a standard curve is prepared from a pool of RTs from all samples, in 5 dilutions (dilutions - 1:60, 1:200, 1:600, 1:2000, 1:10000). The standard curve plot [ct (cycle threshold) vs. log (concentration)] should have R>=0.98 with an efficiency in the range of 100% +/- 5%. The levels of expression (Qty) measured in the qPCR were calculated using the efficiency (E) of the amplification reaction and the corresponding C.T. (the cycle at which the samples crossed the threshold) Qty=E'CT‘. The dissociation curves obtained were qualified for the absence of non-specific PCR products or primer-dimers. Reactions were repeated at least twice. The calculation method is based on the assumption that the efficiencies of the reactions of the GOI (gene of interest) and of the housekeeping genes are similar.

To normalize the expression level between the different tissues and growing conditions of maize plants, expression of each gene was divided by the geometric mean of the expression of the following four housekeeping genes: Actin (GenBank Acc No AY107106), and RPL19 (GenBank Acc. No. AY103679), Cyclophyllin (GenBank Acc No X68678) and Elongation factor 1 alpha (EF1 A, GenBank Acc No AF136823). _Table 29: The following primers were usedfor qRT-PCR analysis:

Results

Real-time RT-PCR analysis provided evidence that the in-silico selected polynucleotide sequences are indeed associated with Nitrogen Use. Although the majority of the genes were chosen because of their association with drought, genes were found to be responsive to the Nitrogen status within the plant suggesting a crosstalk between drought and nutrient deficiency stress. Evidence that the RNA panel used in this assay does reflect genuine changes associated to the nitrogen status can be found Figures 3A-D in which known genes associated to nitrogen uptake and assimilation show changes in their expression levels according to the nitrogen fertilizer level used in the irrigation solution. The graphs represent the normalized expression levels found for each gene divided by the level of expression at the highest nitrogen fertilizer concentration used in the irrigation solution. Figures 3A and 3B show the results found for two high affinity nitrate and ammonium transporter respectively. As expected, at higher concentrations of the substrate, the expression of the high affinity transporters is downregulated. Conversely, those high affinity transporters, obviously essential at conditions in which the substrate is scarce, are upregulated at low nitrate and ammonium concentrations (see Figure 3A and 3B). As expected for two key enzymes in the nitrogen assimilation pathway such as Glutamine Synthase 1C and Glutamine Synthase 2, their expression is upregulated under high substrate conditions as shown in Figure 3C and 3D, respectively. Typically, low affinity transporters are upregulated with high N concentration. Conversely, high affinity transporters are upregulated with low N concentration. Enzymes involved in N-assimilation (the conversion of n to amino acids) are upregulated inn the presence of nitrogen. The genes identified in Example 1 show the distinctive nitrogen responsive behavior found for the control genes (Figures 3A-D). FUE_3 (as shown in Figure 4A) shows upregulation at high substrate concentrations as found for the key control assimilation enzymes indicating a clear association of this gene with the nitrogen status of the plant and hence its relation to nitrogen related-responses. The same upregulation found for FUE_3 was found several other genes included in Example 1 such as FUE_12 (as shown in Figure 4B), FUE_30 (as shown in Figure 4C), FUE33 (as shown in Figure 4D), FUE_34 (as shown in Figure 4E), FUE_38 (as shown in Figure 4F), FUE_43 (as shown in Figure 4G), FUE_47 (as shown in Figure 4H), FUE 48 (as shown in Figure 41), FUE_49 (as shown in Figure 4J) and FUE_52 (as shown in Figure 4K).

Then again, included in Example 1 are genes that show a tight upregulation when nitrogen fertilizer is in short supply. This kind of genes is expected to be related to pathways involved in nitrogen assimilation, storage and use under conditions of nitrogen deficiency as is the case of the high affinity nitrate and ammonium transporters (Figures 2C and 2D). Figure 5A shows the results for FUE_4, a gene that undergoes a strong upregulation at low nitrogen fertilizer availability, indicating a clear role of this gene in the plant endogenous response to nitrogen deficient conditions. Likewise, other genes in Example 1, display a similar nitrogen-responsiveness curve as FUE_4 such as FUE_10 (as shown in Figure 5B), FUE 37 (as shown in Figure 5C), FUE 46 (as shown in Figure 5D) and FUE_50 (as shown in Figure 5E).

Taken together, the results presented herein clearly imply a close correlation between the in-silico selected genes and nitrogen associated pathways. EXAMPLE 3

Gene cloning and creation of binary vectors for plant expression

Cloning strategy

Twenty eight genes of the 50 genes selected in Example 1 and validated in Example 2 above were cloned into binary vectors for the generation of transgenic plants. For cloning, the full-length open reading frame (ORF) was first identified. EST clusters and in some cases mRNA sequences were analyzed to identify the entire open reading frame by comparing the results of several translation algorithms to known proteins from other plant species. In case where the entire coding sequence was not found, RACE kits from Ambion or Clontech (RACE = Rapid Access to cDNA Ends) were used to prepare RNA from the plant samples described in Example 2 above to thereby access the full cDNA transcript of the gene.

In order to clone the full-length cDNAs, Reverse Transcription followed by PCR (RT-PCR) was performed on total RNA extracted from leaves, roots or other plant tissues, growing under either normal or nutrient deficient conditions. Total RNA extraction, production of cDNA and PCR amplification was performed using standard protocols described elsewhere (Sambrook J., E.F. Fritsch, and T. Maniatis. 1989. Molecular Cloning. A Laboratory Manual., 2nd Ed. Cold Spring Harbor ' Laboratory Press, New York.) and are basic for those skilled in the art. PCR products •were purified using PCR purification kit (Qiagen) and sequencing of the amplified PCR products is performed, using ABI377 sequencer (Applied Biosystems).

To facilitate cloning of the cDNAs, a 8-12 bp extension was added to the 5’ prime end of each primer. The primer extension includes an endonuclease restriction site. The restriction sites are selected using two parameters: a. The site does not exist in the cDNA sequence, b. The restriction sites in the forward and reverse primers are designed so the digested cDNA is inserted in the sense formation into the binary vector utilized for transformation. For instance, the pPI plasmid vector was constructed by inserting a synthetic poly-(A) signal sequence, originating from pGL3 basic plasmid vector (Promega, Acc. No. U47295; bp 4658-4811) into the HindHl restriction site of the binary vector pBI101.3 (Clontech, Acc. No. U12640). PCR products were purified (PCR Purification Kit, Qiagen, Germany) and digested with the restriction sites according to the primers used (Roche, Switzerland). The digested PCR products were cloned into the binary vector pPI, which was digested with the same restriction enzymes. The digested PCR product and the linearized plasmid vector were ligated using T4 DNA ligase enzyme (Roche, Switzerland). The following genes were cloned from RNA extracted from the tissues described above using the following primers:

Table 30 - genes clonedfrom cDNA libraries and the primers used for the cloning

fc'wd- AATCTAGAGTAATAftGCCAACAAACAAACCG/SEQ ID

Synthetic sequences of some of the cloned polynucleotides were ordered from a commercial supplier (GeneArt, GmbH). The synthetic DNA was designed in siltco, based on the putative encoded polypeptide sequences described in Example 1.

To optimize the coding sequence, codon-usage tables calculated from plant transcriptomes were used (example of such tables can be found in the Codon Usage' Database available online at http://www.kazusa.or.jp/codon/). The optimized coding sequences were designed in a way that no changes are introduced in the encoded amino acid sequence while using codons preferred for expression in dicotyledonous plants mainly tomato and Arabidopsis·, and monocotyledonous plants such as maize. Such optimized sequences promote better translation rate and therefore higher protein expression levels. To the optimized sequences flanking additional unique restriction enzymes sites were added- Sail, Xbal, BamHI, Smal at the 5’ end and SacI at the 3’ end. Tire genes for which codon optimized synthetic sequences were prepared were: FUE_2 (SEQ ID NO: 1317), FUE_3, (SEQ ID NO: 1319) FUE_4 (SEQ ID NO: 1320), FUE_40 (SEQ ID NO: 1321), FUE_7 (SEQ ID NO: 1322), FUE_8 (SEQ ID NO: 1324), FUE_9 (SEQ ID NO: 1325), FUE_10 (SEQ ID NO: 1326), FUE_12 (SEQ ID NO: 1327), FUE_13 (SEQ ID NO: 1328), FUE_14 (SEQ ID NO: 1329), FUE_16 (SEQ ID NO: 1330), FUE_37 (SEQ ID NO: 1331), FUE_41 (SEQ ID NO: 1332), FUE_46 (SEQ ID NO: 1333), FUE_47 (SEQ ID NO: 1334), FUE_49 (SEQ ID NO: 1335), FUE 52 (SEQ ID NO: 1336).

Two non-optimized sequences, designated MFUE_2_0riginaT (SEQ ID NO: 1318) and "FUE_7_0riginal" (SEQ ID NO: 1323), identical to their endogenous maize sequences were synthesized and cloned for overexpression in transgenic plant creation.

Generation of binary vectors comprising FUE genes and plant functional promoters for driving expression of same - The plasmid pPI was constructed by inserting a synthetic poly-(A) signal sequence, originating from pGL3 basic plasmid vector (Promega, Acc No U47295; bp 4658-4811) into the Hindill restriction site of the binary vector pBI101.3 (Clontech, Acc. No. U12640). In some cases the backbone binary plasmid used was pGI which is similar to pPI but the GUS gene was replaced by the GUS-Intron gene (Vancanneyt. G, et al MGG 220, 245-50, 1990). pGI was used to clone all the polynucleotide sequences, initially under the control of 35S promoter [Odell, JT, et al. Nature 313, 810 - 812 (28 February 1985); SEQ ID NO: 1337].

Some polynucleotide sequences were cloned under other preferential promoters as described below. One of the promoters, named here "RootP" (SEQ ID NO: 1338) because of its enriched expression in roots, was amplified and cloned from genomic DNA isolated from Arabidopsis thaliana by direct PCR using the following primers.

Table 31

The promoter is the 1110 bp upstream region of the gene' ATXTH19 (AT4G30290, Xyloglucan endotransglucosylase/hydrolase 19). The sequence cloned was already shown to drive root-specific expression (Vissenberg K, et al. Plant Cell Physiol. 2005 Jan;46(l): 192-200). The following genes were cloned downstream of the RootP promoter sequence: FUE_3, FUE_4, FUE_8, FUE_9, FUEJ3, FUE_14, FUE16, FUE_33, FUE_34_Evo. For control purposes, the β-glucuronidase enzyme (GUS) encoded by the uid A gene (GENBANK ACCESSION NO: S69414).

The TT105 promoter (SEQ ID NO: 1339; 2004/081173) was used to mediate constitutive ubiquitous expression at levels different from those mediated by the 35S promoter. The promoter TT105 contains the upstream region of the ELP gene (Ectopic deposition of Lignin, GENBANK ACCESSION NO: NM_100466, AT1G05850) including the first exon and part of the first intron. The genes cloned under the TT105 promoter were FUE_502; FUE_504, FUE_39 and FUE_52. Here again the β-glucuronidase enzyme (GUS) encoded by the uid A gene was cloned under the TT105 promoter. EXAMPLE 4

Generation of transgenic plants expressing the FUE genes

Materials and Methods

Arabidoposis transformation - was effected according to Clough SJ, Bent AF. (1998) Floral dip: a simplified method for Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of Arabidopsis tlialiana. Plant J. 16(6): 735-43; and Desfeux C, Clough SJ, Bent AF. (20000 Female reproductive tissues are the primary targets of Agrobacterium-mediated transformation by the Arabidopsis floral-dip method. Plant Physiol. 123(3): 895-904.). Briefly- Arabidopsis thaliana var Columbia (To plants) were transformed using the Floral Dip procedure described by Clough SJ and Bent AF (10) and by Desfeux C et al. (11), with minor modifications. Briefly, Arabidopsis thaliana Columbia (ColO) To Plants were sown in 250 ml pots filled with wet peat-based growth mix. The pots were covered with aluminum foil and a plastic dome, kept at 4 °C for 3-4 days, then uncovered and incubated in a growth chamber at 18-24 °C under 16/8 hr light/dark cycles. The T0 plants were ready for transformation six days prior to anthesis. Single colonies of Agrobacterium carrying the binary vectors harboring the FUE genes were cultured in LB medium supplemented with kanamycin (50 mg/L) and geritamycin (50 mg/L). The cultures were incubated at 28 °C for 48 hrs under vigorous shaking and centrifuged at 4000 rpm for 5 minutes. The pellets comprising Agrobacterium cells were resuspended in a transformation medium which contained half-strength (2.15 g/L) Murashige-Skoog (Duchefa); 0.044 μΜ benzylamino purine (Sigma); 112 pg/L B5 Gambourg vitamins (Sigma); 5 % sucrose; and 0.2 ml/L Silwet L-77 (OSI Specialists, CT) in double-distilled water , at pH of 5.7.

Transformation of To plants was performed by inverting each plant into an Agrobacterium suspension such that the flowering stem was submerged for 3-5 seconds. Each inoculated To plant was immediately placed in a plastic tray, then covered with clear plastic dome to maintain humidity and kept in the dark at room temperature for 18 hrs to facilitate infection and transformation. Transformed (transgenic) plants are then uncovered and transferred to a greenhouse for recovery and maturation. The transgenic To plants were grown in the greenhouse for 3-5 weeks until siliques were brown and dry, then seeds were harvested from plants and kept at room temperature until sowing.

For generating T1 and T2 transgenic plants harboring the genes, seeds collected from transgenic To plants were surface-sterilized by soaking in 70 % ethanol for 1 minute, followed by soaking in 5 % sodium hypochlorite and 0.05 % Triton X-100 for 5 minutes. The surface-sterilized seeds were thoroughly washed in sterile distilled water then placed on culture plates containing half-strength Murashige-Skoog (Duchefa); 2 % sucrose; 0.8 % plant agar; 50 mM kanamycin; and 200 raM carbenicylin (Duchefa). The culture plates were incubated at 4 °C for 48 hours then transferred to a growth room at 25 °C for an additional week of incubation. Vital Ti Arabidopsis plants were transferred to fresh culture plates for another week of incubation. Following incubation the Ti plants were removed from culture plates and planted in growth mix contained in 250 ml pots. The transgenic plants were allowed to grow in a greenhouse to maturity. Seeds harvested from Ti plants were cultured and grown to maturity as T2 plants under the same conditions as used for culturing and growing the Ti plants. At least 10 independent transformation events were created from each construct for which bulk of T2 seeds were collected.

Maize transformation - This procedure is done according to (Bronwyn R. Frame, et al, Agrobacterium tumefaciens-Mediated Transformation of Maize Embryos Using a Standard Binary Vector System, Plant Physiology, May 2002, Vol. 129, pp. 13-22) or to the several protocols available elsewhere from the Plant Transformation Facility at Iowa State University (http://www. agron. iastate.edu/ptf7 Web/mainframc.htrn).

EXAMPLES

Selection of transgenic Arabidopsis plants expressing the FUE genes according to expression level

Materials and Methods

Transgenic plants were grown as detailed in Example 4 above. Total RNA was extracted from 10 freshly excised flowers from the transgenic plants as detailed in Example 2 above. In order to determine the relative expression level of the transgene qRT-PCR reactions were performed as described in Example 2 above and the results were normalized against the geometric mean of the expression of two housekeeping genes measured in the same samples.

Table 31 - Primers used for selection of transgenic plants_

Results

About twelve transgenic events were screened for each construct. The results were highly repetitive and showed that within 12 random transformation events about 20 to 40 fold differences in transgene expression were found. Representative examples of such findings are shown in Tables 32, 33, and 34). Based on these findings about 5 different events showing expression levels higher than the median were taken for further gene function validation (see Examples 6 - 9). ________Table 32

_ _ -_ Table 33_ · ........

............. Table 34

EXAMPLE 6

Improvedfertilizer use efficiency in Tissue culture assay Materials and Methods (

Assay 1: Nitrogen Use efficiency assay using ptantlets — The assay was done according to Yanagisawa-S. et al. with minor modifications (“Metabolic engineering with Dofl transcription factor in plants: improved nitrogen assimilation and growth under low-nitrogen conditions” Proc. Natl. Acad. Set USA 101,7833-7838).

Transgenic plants which were grown for 7-10 days in 0.5 x MS [Murashige-Slcoog] supplemented with a selection agent were transferred to two nitrogen-limiting conditions: MS media in which the combined nitrogen concentration (NH4NO3 and KNO3) was 0.2 mM or 0.05 mM. Plants were allowed to grow for additional 30-40 days and then photographed, individually removed from the Agar (the shoot without the roots) and immediately weighed (fresh weight) for later statistical analysis. Constructs for which only T-l seeds were available were sown on selective media and at least 25 seedlings (each one representing an independent transformation event) were carefully, transferred to the nitrogen-limiting media. For constructs for which T2 seeds were available, different transformation events were analyzed. Usually, 25 randomly selected plants from each event were transferred to the nitrogen-limiting media allowed to grow for 3-4 additional weeks and individually weighed at the end of that period. Transgenic plants were compared to control plants grown in parallel under the same conditions. Mock- transgenic plants expressing the uidA reporter gene (GUS) under the same promoter were used as control.

Statistical analyses - To identify genes conferring significantly improved nitrogen use efficiency (or tolerance to abiotic stresses or enlarged root architecture, see below) the results obtained from, the transgenic plants were compared to those obtained from control plants. Plant area data, seed weight data and plant weight data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA. To identify outperforming genes and constructs, results from the independent transformation events tested were analyzed separately. In addition, genes and constructs were also analyzed taking into consideration the results obtained from all the independent transformation events tested the specific construct. For gene versus control analysis Student’s t test or Tukey HSD test were applied, using significance of p<0.05. The JMP statistics software package was used (Version 5.2.1, SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA). The same statistical analysis was used in Examples 6-9 which follow.

Results

Polynucleotide sequences of the present invention were assayed for a number of commercially desired traits.

Figure 7 shows the ability FUE_504 or FUE_39 to improve NUE of transgenic plants expressing same. Clearly the transgenic plants grown on nitrogen are bigger and heavier than control plants expressing a control gene under the same promoter used to express the transgenes. To verify that the increase in the mass achieved by the transgenic plants is statistically significant, plants were individually weighed and the results of the entire population of events analyzed. As shown in Table 35 below transgenic plants expressing FUE_504 are significantly heavier than the control counterparts. The results demonstrate an improvement in NUE since the transgenic plants expressing FUE_504 are able to produce significantly more biomass than control plants starting from a similar nitrogen poor-media, ____ Table 35

Notably, whenever T1 plants were used to assay the effect of FUE_504; therefore each plant tested is a result of a different transformation event. Having this in mind it is clear that the effect found for T1 plants is a result of the transgene which is not associated with the transgene integration site. When T2 plants were assayed, the results were reproducible whereby in three independent transformation increased fresh weight was evident under limiting nitrogen conditions. Similar results were obtained for FUE 39 and FUE 52. As shown in Table 36 below three independent transgenic events contributed to the increase of the plantlet biomass under limiting nitrogen . conditions. The results indicate that the expression of also FUE_39 and FUE_502 induces a significant improvement in nitrogen use efficiency.

Table 36: Least square means of fresh weight measuredfrom ~25 plantlets grown for 30 days in 0.05 mMcombined nitrogen concentration (NH4NO3 and KNO3) • _(results analyzed using Student’s t test) _

Levels not connected by same letter are significantly different

Similar results were obtained when checking the same events at 0.2 mM combined nitrogen concentration. Four events transformed with TT105::NUE_39 produced statistically significant higher biomass when compared to control plants. Similar results were obtained with 3 events transformed with TT105::NUE_52 and 2 events transformed with TT105::NUE_504 as shown in Table 37.

Table 37: Least square means of fresh weight measured from ~25 plantlets grown for 30 days in 0.2 mM combined nitrogen concentration (NH4NO3 and KNO3) _________ (results analyzed using Student's t test)

Levels not connected by same letter are significant y different

Positive results were also obtained in an assay performed using T1 seeds of transgenic plants overexpressing either FUE_8, FUE14 or FUE_40 under a constitutive ubiquitous promoter (35S), as shown in Table 38 below.

Table 38: Least square means of fresh weight measuredfrom ~25 plantlets grown for 27 days in 0.05 and 0.2 mMcombined nitrogen concentration (NH4NO3 and _KNO3) (results analyzed using Student's t test MANOVA)

Levels not connected by same letter are significantly different

Similar results were obtained for different events of other constructs expressing FUE genes. An additional construct bearing the FUE 39 gene under the 35S promoter was checked using this assay as shown in the Table 39 below. In addition, two independent transformation events overexpressing the FUE_49 gene and additional events transformed with either FUE_4, FUE_3, or FUE_43 showed significantly higher biomass produced at both nitrogen limiting conditions tested as shown in table 39 below.

Table 39: Least square means of fresh weight measuredfrom ~25 plantlets grown for 27 days in 0.05 and 0.2 mM combined nitrogen concentration (NH4NO3 and KNO3) (results analyzed using Student's t test MANOVA)

Levels not connected by same letter are significantly different

Taking into account the results obtained using this assay, several FUE genes have shown their ability to induce a significant improvement in nitrogen use efficiency. The genes that showed significant results are: FUE 504, FUE_39, FUE 52, FUE_502, as well as the following group of genes: FUE14 , FUE8, FUE_40 and FUE_49, FUE_3, FUE_4 and FUE_43.

Assay 2: Nitrogen Use efficiency whole plant assay: Growth rate at limited nitrogen concentration - An additional assay designed to identify improved nitrogen use efficiency was developed. This assay follows the rosette area growth of plants grown in the greenhouse at limited nitrogen availability. Surface sterilized seeds were sown and plants grown at 25°C under 23-hour light 1-hour dark daily cycles for 7-10 days in 0.5 x Murashige-Skoog medium in the presence of 2 % sucrose. Then seedlings of similar size were carefully transferred to 100 ml pots filled with an inert growth medium support (a fine perlite mix). Seedlings were allowed to develop for a further week irrigated with a solution containing abundant supply of micro and macronutrients. Fertilizer excess was washed from the pots with at least two volumes of low-nitrate tap water. Then, plants were individually inspected and only healthy plants were chosen for growth rate analysis. The chosen plants were randomly distributed in several trays and used to assay for growth rate analysis under nitrogen limiting conditions. Constant nitrogen limiting conditions were achieved irrigating the plants with a solution containing 0.5 mM inorganic nitrogen (combined KNO3 and NH4NO3 concentration), supplemented with 2 mM CaCL, 1.25 mM KH2PO4, 1.50 mM MgSC>4, 5 mM KCl, 0.01 mM H3BO3 and microelements. To follow plant growth, trays were photographed the day nitrogen limiting conditions were initiated and subsequently every 2-3 days for ~20 additional days. Rosette plant area was then determined from the digital pictures using the methodology described in Figure 6. ImageJ software was used for quantifying the plant size from the digital pictures (http://rsb.info.nih.gOv/n/f utilizing proprietary scripts designed to analyze the size of rosette area from individual plants as a function of time. Percentage of growth was calculated as the ratio of the plant rosette area divided by the initial plant area measured at day 1. To identify the transgenic plants within the experiment, the presence of the selection marker gene was checked using PCR. Leaf samples were taken from the plants, genomic DNA was extracted and served as template for a PCR using primers specific for the selection marker gene. Positive plants were tagged in order to exclude from the analysis the non-transgenic plants.

Table 40: Primers used for the PCR analysis:

Results

In agreement with the results obtained in the previous assay in which FUE 39 showed improved NUE, the results presented herein show that FUE_39 significantly improved NUE in whole plants. As shown in Table 41 below, two independent transgenic events expressing FUE39 were found to display enhanced NUE when compared to either wild type or transgenic plants expressing the GUS reporter gene under the same promoter used to express the FUE_39 transgene.

Table 41: FUE39 shows the results of a growth rate assay under limiting nitrogen _____conditions. Two events showing enhanced NUE were shown.

Levels not connected by same letter are significantly different

In addition to FUE 39, also events overexpressing FUE7 and FUE 41 were found to display enhanced growth rate under limiting nitrogen conditions. As shown in Table 42, FUE_7, FUE 41, FUE_50, FUE_16 expression under the 35S promoter are significantly better than control plants (wild type or expressing a reporter gene under 35S promoter). _ Table 42_______

Levels not connected by same letter are significantly different

Thus, the assay described here follows the ability of the plant to grow at limiting nitrogen conditions. Since the transgenic plants described above developed significantly faster than control plants it can be assumed that the outstanding events were able to assimilate the nitrogen available and to convert it to organic matter. As all the plants in the experiment were treated similarly, the results indicate that the outstanding events were able to utilize more efficiently the nitrogen available and therefore display enhanced nitrogen use efficiency. ...

Assay 3: Seed Yield assay at limited nitrogen availability - Maize plants absorb and store the majority of the nitrogen in leaves and stalk until flowering. Stored nutrients are then redistributed to the developing kernels. In the present assay plants were grown in limited nitrogen conditions as detailed in Assay 2 above for about 45 days and then grown until full maturity with tap water only. Plants are therefore forced to redistribute the stored nitrogen to the developing seeds. Plants that store more nitrogen are expected to have a better yield. Seeds were collected from individual plants and the yield was measured as seed weight The yield of at least about 6 transgenic plants was usually measured for each event tested.

Results

In this assay transgenic plaits overexpressing FUE43 (under the 35 S promoter) were found to have increased seed yield as shown in Table 43. The results of one of the events are presented below. _ Table 43_

Levels not connected by same letter are significantly different

Taken as a whole the results shown here demonstrate that genes from this invention are capable of improving different aspects of nitrogen use efficiency as demonstrated by the results of the different assays disclosed here. EXAMPLE 7

Evaluating transgenic plant growth under abiotic stress conditions

Tolerance to salinity or osmotic stress is aimed at identifying genes that confer better germination, seedling vigor or growth in high salt, drought or combination of same or other environmental stresses. Plants differ in their tolerance to salt stress, high osmoticum and drought during different stages of development Therefore seed germination, plant development, and yield were evaluated independently under the different stress conditions. A typical salinity tolerance test is produced taking plants at different developmental stages and irrigating them with increasing concentrations of NaCl (for example 50 mM, 100 mM, 200 mM, 400 mM) or constant concentration of_NaCl. Transgenic plants are then compared to control plants in their external phenotypic appearance, degree of wilting, and overall success to reach maturity and yield progeny at concentrations inhibitory to control plants. Quantitative parameters of tolerance measured include, the average wet and dry weight, and the weight of the seeds yielded, the average seed size and the number of seeds produced per plant. Osmotic stress assays (including NaCl and mannitol assays) are conducted to determine if an osmotic stress tolerant phenotype is NaCl-specific or if it is a general osmotic stress related phenotype. Drought assays are performed for example halting irrigation during long period and measuring wilting rate, recovery and final yield. Plants tolerant to osmotic stress are in general more tolerant to drought, salinity and freezing conditions and therefore are highly valuable in terms of agronomic traits.

Materials and Methods

The method used to test the plants for improved abiotic stress tolerance includes the test of germination and seedling growth under adverse conditions such as high salinity and high osmoticum.

Germination assay under abiotic stresses - Germination tests compare the percentage of seeds from transgenic plants that could complete the germination process (radicle protrusion from the seed coat and complete opening of the cotyledons) to the percentage of seeds from control plants treated in the same manner. Evaluation of germination and seedling vigor was conducted for three weeks after planting. To measure germination and seedling growth, seeds from T2 plants were surface sterilized and individually sown on square agar plates containing for example, solidified basal media (50 % Murashige-Skoog medium (MS) + vitamins supplemented with 0.8 % plant agar) supplemented with high salinity (150 mM NaCl) or high osmoticum (210 mM mannitol). After sowing, plates were transferred for 2-3 days at 4 °C for stratification and then grown for three weeks.

To follow the germination and growth at adverse conditions plants were screened manually or automatically and plant size was determined. Various independent transformation events selected from Example 5 were analyzed from each construct. Plants expressing the genes from this invention were compared to control plants (wild type or mock-transformed plants) sown on the same plates under the same conditions.

Seedling growth Under abiotic stress - A complementary experiment performed with seedlings follows the tolerance of the plants to adverse conditions. Surface sterilized seeds were sown in basal media [50 % Murashige-Skoog medium (MS) + vitamins supplemented with 0.8% plant agar as solidifying agent] in the presence of Kanamycin (for transgenic plants) or in its absence (for wild-type control plants). After sowing, plates were transferred for 2-3 days at 4 °C for stratification and then grown at 25 °C under 23-hour light 1-hour dark daily cycles for 7 to 10 days. At this time point, seedlings randomly chosen were carefully transferred to plates containing high salinity conditions (150 mM NaCl) or conditions resembling the high osmolarity found during drought (210 mM mannitol). Plant growth was followed as a function of time using digital imaging. To follow the plant growth at adverse conditions plants were photographed the day they were transferred to the stress conditions (Day 1). Pictures were subsequently taken every few days after transferring the plants to the stress condition and up to 12 days after the transfer. Rosette plant area was then determined from the digital pictures. ImageJ software was used for quantifying the plant size from the digital pictures (http://rsb.inftvnih pov/ij/Y Proprietary scripts were designed to analyze the size of individual plants rosette areas as a function of time. Figure 6 shows the methodology used for image area quantification. Five to ten independent transformation events were analyzed from each construct and at least 6 randomly selected plants from each event were analyzed in each stress experiment. Plants expressing the genes from this invention were compared either to control plants sown on the same stress inducing plates (internal controls) or to the average measurement of all the control plants used in the same experiment (all controls).

Results

Salinity and osmoticum tolerance were assayed by following plant growth during stress, as evidenced by plant green area. Several genes and constructs were checked using the procedure described above and significant tolerance results were found. For instance, transgenic plants overexpressing the following genes have shown statistically significant improved tolerance to high salinity stress: FUE_7, FUE_10, FUE_14, FUE 16, FUE_33, FUE_37, FUE_39, FUE_40, FUE_41, FUE_47, FUE_50, FUE 502, FUE503 and FUE_504.

In addition, the following genes provided statistically significant results in coffering abiotic stress tolerance to the transgenic plants overexpressing same when exposed to high osmolarity stress: FUE_3, FUE_9, FUE_10, FUE_13, FUE_37, FUE_39, FUE40, FUE_41, FUE_43, FUE_49, FUE_502, FUE_503 and FUE_504.

In addition, transgenic plants expressing FUE_43 and FUE_503 were found to have increased ability to germinate under high osmoticum conditions (Data not shown).

Furthermore, transgenic plants expressing the following genes have shown significantly increased abiotic stress tolerance to either salinity or high osmolarity: FUE_10, FUE_37, FUE_39, FUE_40, FUE_41, FUEJ02 and FUE_504.

It should be noted that the significance of the results is in general supported by several transgenic events expressing the above genes and in some cases also under different promoters. Table 44a-b summarize these findings. Results are expressed as the growth area percentage related to the size of the plant when transferred to stress conditions (i.e., Day 1).

Table 44a- list ofgenes showing improved seedling growth under salinity stress

Gene Promoter Salinity Seedling Growth Assay FUE 502 35S__________

FUE_503

FUE_504 35S ~

' '

TT105

FUEJ7 35S

FUE_10 35S ......

FUE 14 RootP__Experiment performed on T1 plants

35S

I___

FUEJG RootP Experiment performed on T1 nlants

FUE_33 RootP Experiment performed on T1 plants '

FUE_37 RootP Experiment performed on T1 plants "

FUE_39 35S ______________

FUE_40 35S _____Experiment performed on Tl plants

FUE_41 353 ..........

FUE_47 35s__Experiment performed on Tl plants

FUE_50 ___

Table 44b - list of genes showing improved seedling growth under osmoticum stress Gene Prom Osmoticum oter - Seedling Growth Assay FUE 502 35S ________.....-- - - TTj05 ‘

-

Experiment performed on Tl plants

FUE_503

-------- FUE_504 TT105 Experiment performed on Tl plants '

FUEJ3 35S

-

FUE_9 RootP _

FUE_10 35S

FUE_13 3SS

RootP Experiment nerformed on TI plants

FUE_37 RootP Experiment perfoimed on Tl plants

FUE.39 35S

"

FUE_40 35S Experiment performed on Tl plants

FUE_41 35S

FUE_49 35S

EXAMPLE 8

Evaluating changes in root architecture in transgenic plants

Many key traits in modem agriculture can be explained by changes in the root architecture. Root size and depth correlates with drought tolerance and fertilizer use efficiency. Deeper root systems can access water in stored in deeper soil layers. Similarly, a highly branched root system provides better coverage of the soil and therefore can effectively absorb all macro and micronutrients available resulting in enhanced fertilizer use efficiency. To test whether the transgenic plants produce a different root structure, plants were grown in agar plates placed vertically. Plates were photographed every few days and the maximal length and total area covered by the plant roots were assessed from the digital pictures. From every construct created, several independent transformation events were checked in replicates. To assess significant differences between root features, one ANOVA using Students t-test was employed in order to identify the events showing outstanding root features and to provide a statistical score to the findings (statistical assays are described above).

Results

When analyzing different aspects of root architecture such as total root area covered and maximal depth (length) achieved by the root system, it was found that transgenic plants expressing FUE genes have remarkable features. For instance, transgenic plants overexpressing FUE_10 and FUE_49 were found to have a higher root area coverage based on measurements done 21 days following germination (see Table 45).

Table 45: Root Area (in cm2) measured at day 21

Levels not connected by same letter are significantly different

Similarly, plants overexpressing FUE_16 and FUE_7 original were found to produce the longest root architecture (see Table 46 below). FUE_16 was found to produce the fastest penetrating root system from all the constructs tested at all days tested (7,14 and 21 days after germination).

In practice, these findings suggest that plants overexpressing FUE_16 and FUE_7_Original reach deeper soil layers compared to other plants at the same period of time. These plants are expected to maximally retrieve fertilizers and water from the soil and withstand better longer periods of drought.

Table 46: Statistical analvsis of root length (in cm) measured at dav 21

Levels not connected by same letter are significantly different

The enhanced root architecture allows transgenic plants expressing FUE genes to absorb more successfully the nutrients (fertilizers) and water available in the soil. Increased uptake and nutrient recovery is a key feature for improved fertilizer use efficiency and abiotic stress tolerance. Deeper root systems allow plants to access water available in deeper soil layers enhancing the tolerance to extended drought periods and therefore ensuring high yields also under harsh conditions. EXAMPLE 9 FUE_40 expressing plants are characterized by a plant architecture for maximal seed production

The presence of multiple seed producing organs (pods, fruits, etc) and strong flowering stems is a key feature to produce high seed yields. While reducing the present invention to practice, the present inventors have surprisingly found that transgenic plants expressing FUE_40 under a constitutive promoter have improved reproductive organ architecture. The flowering stems were unusually stiff and strong and carry a large number of siliques (see Figure 9 showing different independent transformation events). The results were confirmed by a triple blind assay identifying plants having more siliques per plant, probably due to faster growth of lateral inflorescence shoots. Interestingly, all the plants were different transformation events bearing the same construct, NUE40 gene under 35S promoter (see Fig. 9). This alteration in plant development characteristics can be used to significantly increase seed yield of a plant. EXAMPLE 10 CT-9 (SEQ ID NO: 1340,1341) and CT-71 (SEQ ID NO: 1342,1343) confer drought tolerance and increased yield of transgenic tomato

While further reducing the present invention to practice the present inventors have surprisingly uncovered that CT_9 (SEQ ID NOs. 1340, 1341 previously disclosed in PCT Application No. WO2005/121364) and CT_71 (SEQ ID NOs. 1342 and 1343, previously disclosed in PCT Application No. WO2005/121364) confer drought resistance and increased yields in transgenic plants expressing same. CT 9 and CT 71 were disclosed in PCT Application No. WO2005/121364 to Evogene Ltd. and in US5,597,718 (CT_71).

Materials and Experimental Procedures

Drought assay - The drought assay described herein was effected in field conditions mimicking drought stress by controlling the amount of water supplied and the drought intervals. The assay, one source dripping irrigation system (OSDI), is similar to the farmer field since it creates water deficiency in a relatively uniform manner and enables to measure the effect of drought on small size populations of plants.

Thus, the present irrigation method may be effected as follows: (a) placing on or in a soil a dripping irrigation system so as to obtain irrigation holes distributed 20-40 cm (e.g., 30 cm) from one another in the X and Y directions; and (b) continuously irrigating through each of said irrigation holes at an irrigation rate of 0.5-2 liter water per hour.

One configuration of an irrigation system (10) for mimicking drought conditions which comprises the following components and illustrated in Figure 10 may be used in accordance with the teachings of the present invention: (i) a dripping irrigation system having a plurality of irrigation holes (12) distributed 20-40 cm from one another in the X and Y directions; and (ii) a water supply and control system (14) for continuously irrigating through each of said irrigation holes 0.5-2 liter water per hour.

Preferred drippers used are pressure-compensated thick-walled dripper line with anti-siphon and anti-drain systems (UniRam™ CNL #16010, Flow Rate 1.6 1/h from Netafim Israel). Anti-siphon system prevents dirt backflow into the dripper line while anti-drain (CNL) system eliminates drainage and refill effect, and improves efficiency in pulse irrigation.

The OSDI method was developed on the basis of the line source sprinklers irrigation system (Hanks et al. 1976 Soil Sci. Soc Am. J. 40 p. 426-429) with significant modifications. Instead of sprinklers irrigation a dripping irrigation was used. In order to create a uniform and deep wet layer (at least 60cm depth) and not the onion shape layer that is typically created by dripping irrigation a low pressure compensating dripping irrigation system was used that allow providing small amount of water in a relatively long period of time.

The experiment was created in light soil during summer 2006 (from July to September), in an open field nethouse near Rehovot, Israel.

The water capacity of the soil was measured using the standard procedures by sampling soil from the following three depths: 0 to 20 cm, 20 to 40 cm and 40 to 60 cm. The water content in these soil layers was measured routinely every week. The soil contained 5 % hygroscopic water while the maximum water capacity of the soil was 20 %. All fertilizers were applied into the soil prior to sowing. The amount of both phosphorus and potassium was calculated to be sufficient for all season. Nitrogen was applied as recommended, equally to all the treatments through the irrigation system.

Each row, 193 cm wide, contained three dripping irrigation lines creating coverage of nine drippers per 1 sq. m. The water control was done separately for each treatment. The soil was dried completely before the beginning of the experiment. '

Sowing was done in a nursery conditions under regular water irrigation. The seedlings were transplanted after four weeks into wet soil. The water amount that was used to uniformly irrigate before transplanting reached the maximum water capacity (20 % w/w) at 60 cm depth however without creation of water overload. Each plant was transplanted near a dripper, 30 cm distance between plants with a total density of 2600 plants per 1000 sq. m, according to commercial growth protocol. The experiment was structured in four blocks containing three rows irrigated with different water levels and intervals (WLI-0, WLI-1, WLI-2). The different water regimes started only four weeks following transplanting when plants reached the flowering stage. The amount of water supplied every week during the assay was calculated at every beginning of the week following the recommendations of standard growing protocols. WLI-0 treatment received the recommended total weekly irrigation volume, but divided in three irrigations. The two other treatments (WLI-1 and WLE-2) represent two different level of water deficiency. WLI-1 was also irrigated three times a week, but the amount of water supplied was half of the irrigation supplied to WLI-0. At the end of every week, WLI-1 plants received the amount of water required to reach maximum soil water capacity. WLI-2 was not irrigated during the week but rather at the beginning of every week. Water was supplied to achieve the maximum water capacity. The water stress experiment lasted throughout the flowering period (23 days) corresponding to 4 cycles of the stresses described above. Afterwards, all the treatments received the recommended amount of water.

The calculation of the water amount was equal to the difference between water content in dry soil and soil with maximum water capacity. At the end of each stress cycle the water amount was compared between treatments according to actual water content in the soil (Table 47)

Table 47 Water content (%) in the soil at the end of the 4th stress cycle (23 days)

Of note, during the stress period treatments WLI-1 and WLI-2 received in total 75 % less water compared to control (WLI-0).

Gene cloning and expression - Bioinformatic identification, cloning and phenotypic evaluation of CT-9 and CT-71 was described in Patent No: WO2005/121364. CT-9 or CT-71 ligated to binary constructs, comprising the 35S promoter were transformed into tomato plants via Agrobacterium tumefacience transformation. 60 pL of Agrobacterium tumefaciens LB4404 competent cells (about 109 cells/mL) were transformed with 20 ng of binary plasmid via electroporation, using a MicroPulser electroporator (Biorad), 0.2 cm cuvettes (Biorad) and EC-2 electroporation program (Biorad).

Agrobacterium cells were grown on 0.8 mL LB liquid medium at 28 °C for 3 hrs and 0.2 mL of the cell suspension were plated on LB-agar plates supplemented with the antibiotics streptomycin 300 mg/L (for Agrobacterium strain LB4404) and kanamycin 50 mg/L (Sigma). Plates were then incubated at 28 °C for 48 hrs.

Agrobacterium colonies were grown and PCR amplification was performed on Agrobacterium cells, using primers which were designed to span the inserted sequence in the binary vector. PCR products were separated on 1.5 % agarose gels and product sizes were determined by comparing to DNA ladder (MBI Fermentas). PCR products with the predicted size were sequenced using the primers which were used for the PCR amplification. Sequencing of the inserted sequence was performed to verify that the right clones were introduced into the Agrobacterium cells. DNA sequencing was effected using ABI 377 sequencer (Amersham Biosciences Inc.).

Transformation of Micro-Tom tomato plants with CT_9 or CT-71 - Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum, var MicroTom) transformation and cultivation of transgenic plants was effected according to Curtis et al. 1995 Methods Mol Biol. 1995;44:59-70., and Meissner et. al. 2000. Plant J. 2000 May;22(3):265-74. Following transformation, T1 MicroTom tomato plants were grown in a mix contained in 1000 ml pots, until fruit set and T2 seeds harvesting. Transgenic microtom tomato plants over expressing the CT-9 or CT-71 genes under the regulation of the 35S promoter were cross-pollinated with M82 commercial variety plants. Taking randomly four plants originated from four different insertion events representing the position effect The FI hybrids which include the transgene were used for further evaluation. As a negative control, non-transgenic plants that segregated from the same transgenic populations were used. To distinguish between transgenic and non transgenic plants a PCR screening was effected using primers of the NPTII gene as described in example 6.

Results

At the fruit ripening stage of about 90 % red fruits, plants were evaluated and fruits were harvested. Plant performance was evaluated by measuring mass of the canopies, root length and mass. The yield was measured by taking green and red full size fruits for each plant. The results were analyzed using one side Anova test and summarized in Table 48, below.

Table 48: Totalfruit yield of the plant lines grown under severe water stress (WLI-2) expressing CT-9 gene compared to control plants.

a, b, c - Levels not connected by same letter are statistically significantly different at P<0.05

The transgenic lines overexpressing CT-9 showed significantly higher fruit yield under severe water deficiency conditions (WLI-2) compared to control plants.

The improvement in yield was observed also under regular water irrigation both for lines expressing CT-9 and CT-71 (see Table 49, below).

Table 49: Totalfruit yield of the lines over expressing CT-9 compared to control plants grown under favorable water irrigation (WLI-0)

a, b, c - Levels not connected by same letter are statistically significantly different at P<0.05 EXAMPLE 11

Plants overexpressing FUE_34_Evo are characterized by enhanced lateral branching

Control of lateral buds activation can have an important role in modem agriculture and breeding of flowers and ornaments. In the case of modem maize breeding, breeders worked for many years towards the reduction of tillers (lateral branches) in order to create single husk plants that reach maturation concurrently. On the other hand, control of tillering in rice breeding has also importance since multiple tillers will allow the production of several panicles on the same plant while overtillering has deleterious effects on. the plant. Similarly, lateral branching is important for ornamentals, for example to produce multiple flowers from the same stem, or to produce single large flowers from each stem.

As shown in Figure 8 plants expressing exogenous FUE_34_Evo are characterized by multiple brandling of the shoot. Expression of FUE_34 Evo (SED ID No: 54) under a constitutive ubiquitous promoter caused unusually active lateral branching phenotype. All the transgenic events obtained with these constructs display this particular branching phenotype at every node. This phenotype can be a result of the loss of the plant apical dominance or more likely to the continuous expression of Evo_34JBvo under an ubiquitous constitutive promoter. Evo_34 is a MADS box transcription factor that contains in addition putative phosphorylation sites for cAMP-and cGMP-dependent protein kinase, Casein kinase II and Protein kinase C. Expression under a root preferred promoter such as RootP caused the creation of a compact highly branched root phenotype. FUE_34_Evo can be therefore used for example to engineer plants with controlled branching adding a constitutive or inducible promoter active at certain anatomical parts of the plant and/or at certain developing stages. Similarly the gene can be silenced and in this way tillering or lateral branching will be highly likely avoided. Another potential use for this gene is for MAS (Marker assisted breeding). EXAMPLE 12

Homologous and orthologous sequences Table 50 lists a summary of orthologous and homologous sequences of the polynucleotide sequences and polypeptide sequences of the invention identified using BLAST (TBLASTX program) having at least 85% similarity on at least 85% of the entire protein length. _Table 50______

It is appreciated that certain features of the invention, which are, for clarity, described in. the context of separate embodiments, may also be provided in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features of the invention, which are, for brevity, described in the context of a single embodiment, may also be provided separately or in any suitable subcombination.

Although the invention has been described in conjunction with specific embodiments thereof, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art Accordingly, it is intended to embrace all such alternatives, modifications and variations that fall within the spirit and broad scope of the appended claims. All publications, patents and patent applications and GenBank Accession numbers mentioned in this specification are herein incorporated in their entirety by reference into the specification, to the same extent as if each individual publication, patent or patent application or GenBank Accession number was specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated herein by reference. In addition, citation or identification of any reference in this application shall not be construed as an admission that such reference is available as prior art to the present invention. Further, any reference to publications cited in this specification is not an admission that the disclosures constitute common general knowledge in Australia.

DEFINITIONS

The term ‘comprise’ and variants of the term such as ‘comprises’ or ‘comprising’ are used herein to denote the inclusion of a stated integer or stated integers but not to exclude any other integer or any other integers, unless in the context or usage an exclusive interpretation of the term is required.

Claims (20)

1. A method of increasing biomass, growth rate, tolerance to an abiotic stress condition, and/or nitrogen use efficiency of a plant comprising: (a) expressing within the plant an exogenous polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having an amino acid sequence exhibiting at least 92 % sequence identity to the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 173; and (b) selecting the plant expressing said exogenous polynucleotide for an increased abiotic stress tolerance, biomass, growth rate, and/or nitrogen use efficiency as compared to a non-transformed plant which is grown under the same growth conditions, wherein said abiotic stress is selected from the group consisting of salinity stress and nitrogen deficiency, thereby increasing the biomass, growth rate, tolerance of the plant to the abiotic stress condition, and/or nitrogen use efficiency and/or uptake of the plant.

2. A method of producing seeds of a crop, comprising: (a) selecting a parent plant transformed with an exogenous polynucleotide comprising a nucleic acid sequence encoding a polypeptide which exhibits at least 92 % sequence identity to the polypeptide set forth in SEQ ID NO: 173, said parent plant exhibits an increased trait selected from the group consisting of: increased abiotic stress tolerance, increased biomass, increased growth rate, and increased nitrogen use efficiency as compared to a non-transformed plant which is grown under the same growth conditions, wherein said abiotic stress is selected from the group consisting of salinity stress and nitrogen deficiency; (b) growing a seed producing plant from said parent plant resultant of step (a), wherein said seed producing plant which comprises said exogenous polynucleotide has said increased trait; and (c) producing seeds from said seed producing plant resultant of step (b), thereby producing seeds of the crop.

3. A method of increasing abiotic stress tolerance, biomass, growth rate, and/or nitrogen use efficiency of a plant, comprising: (a) expressing within the plant an exogenous polynucleotide comprising a nucleic acid sequence encoding a which exhibit at least 92 % sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 173; and (b) growing the plant expressing said exogenous polynucleotide under the abiotic stress, wherein said abiotic stress is selected from the group consisting of salinity stress and nitrogen deficiency, thereby increasing the abiotic stress tolerance, biomass, growth rate, and/or nitrogen use efficiency of the plant.

4. A method of selecting a transformed plant having increased abiotic stress tolerance, biomass, growth rate, and/or nitrogen use efficiency, the method comprising: (a) providing plants transformed with an exogenous polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence which exhibits at least 92 % sequence identity to the polypeptide set forth in SEQ ID NO: 173; (b) selecting from said plants of step (a) a plant having increased abiotic stress tolerance, increased biomass, increased growth rate, and/or increased nitrogen use efficiency, wherein said abiotic stress is selected from the group consisting of salinity stress and nitrogen deficiency, thereby selecting the transformed plant having increased abiotic stress tolerance, biomass, growth rate, and/or nitrogen use efficiency as compared to a non-transformed plant of the same species which is grown under the same growth conditions.

5. The method of any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein said polypeptide exhibits at least 95 % sequence identity to the polypeptide set forth in SEQ ID NO: 173.

6. The method of any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein said polypeptide exhibits at least 97 % sequence identity to the polypeptide set forth in SEQ ID NO: 173.

7. The method of any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein said polypeptide exhibits at least 99 % sequence identity to the polypeptide set forth in SEQ ID NO: 173.

8. The method of any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein said polypeptide is set forth in SEQ ID NO:173.

9. The method of any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein said nucleic acid sequence is set forth in SEQ ID NO:64 or a codon-optimized sequence of said nucleic acid sequence for expression in the plant.

10. A method of increasing biomass, growth rate, tolerance to an abiotic stress condition, and/or nitrogen use efficiency of a plant comprising: (a) expressing within the plant an exogenous polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 173, 1041, and 1083; and (b) selecting the plant expressing said exogenous polynucleotide for an increased abiotic stress tolerance, biomass, growth rate, and/or nitrogen use efficiency as compared to a non-transformed plant which is grown under the same growth conditions, wherein said abiotic stress is selected from the group consisting of salinity stress and nitrogen deficiency, thereby increasing the biomass, growth rate, tolerance of the plant to the abiotic stress condition, and/or nitrogen use efficiency of the plant.

11. A method of producing seeds of a crop, comprising: (a) selecting a parent plant transformed with an exogenous polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 173, 1041, and 1083, said parent plant exhibits an increased trait selected from the group consisting of: increased abiotic stress tolerance, increased biomass, increased growth rate, and increased nitrogen use efficiency as compared to a non-transformed plant which is grown under the same growth conditions, wherein said abiotic stress is selected from the group consisting of salinity stress and nitrogen deficiency; (b) growing a seed producing plant from said parent plant resultant of step (a), wherein said seed producing plant which comprises said exogenous polynucleotide has said increased trait; and (c) producing seeds from said seed producing plant resultant of step (b), thereby producing the seeds of the crop.

12. A method of increasing abiotic stress tolerance, biomass, growth rate, and/or nitrogen use efficiency of a plant, comprising: (a) expressing within the plant an exogenous polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 173, 1041, and 1083; and (b) growing the plant expressing said exogenous polynucleotide under the abiotic stress, wherein said abiotic stress is selected from the group consisting of salinity stress and nitrogen deficiency, thereby increasing the abiotic stress tolerance, biomass, growth rate, and/or nitrogen use efficiency of the plant.

13. A method of selecting a transformed plant having increased abiotic stress tolerance, biomass, growth rate, and/or nitrogen use efficiency, the method comprising: (a) providing plants transformed with an exogenous polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 173, 1041, and 1083; and (b) selecting from said plants of step (a) a plant having increased abiotic stress tolerance, increased biomass, increased growth rate, and/or increased nitrogen use efficiency, wherein said abiotic stress is selected from the group consisting of salinity stress and nitrogen deficiency, thereby selecting the transformed plant having increased abiotic stress tolerance, biomass, growth rate, and/or nitrogen use efficiency as compared to a non-transformed plant of the same species which is grown under the same growth conditions.

14. The method of any one of claims 10 to 13, wherein said exogenous polynucleotide comprises the nucleic acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs:64, 534, and 552, or a codon-optimized sequence of said nucleic acid sequence for expression in the plant.

15. The method of any one of claims 1 to 14, wherein said expressing is effected by: (a) transforming a cell of said plant with said exogenous polynucleotide; (b) generating a mature plant from said cell; and (c) cultivating said mature plant under conditions suitable for expressing said exogenous polynucleotide within said mature plant.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein said transforming is effected by introducing to said plant cell a nucleic acid construct including said exogenous polynucleotide and at least one promoter capable of directing transcription of said exogenous polynucleotide in said plant cell.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein said promoter is a constitutive promoter.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein said promoter is an inducible promoter or a tissue specific promoter.

19. The method of any one of claims 1 to 18, wherein said plant is a dicotyledonous plant cell.

20. The method of any one of claims 1 to 18, wherein said plant is a monocotyledonous plant cell.