Patent ID: 11926833
Assignee: LIVING CARBON PBC
Field: Biotechnology (Chemistry)
Classification: CPC C  Y | IPC C

Claim 22:
23. A method for increasing photosynthetic activity and stomatal conductance under drought conditions in a tree, said method comprising:
transforming a tree plant cell comprising endogenous glycolate transporter Plgg1 with one or more heterologous polynucleotides comprising:
a first promoter operably linked to a polynucleotide sequence encoding a glycolate dehydrogenase;
a second promoter operably linked to a polynucleotide sequence encoding a malate synthase; and
an RNAi polynucleotide targeting the endogenous glycolate transporter Plgg1, wherein the RNAi polynucleotide comprises a sense strand comprising at least 21 contiguous nucleotides of the endogenous glycolate transporter Plgg1 and an antisense strand that is fully complementary to the at least 21 contiguous nucleotides of the sense strand, wherein the sense strand and the antisense strand form a dsRNA, wherein expression of the endogenous glycolate transporter Plgg1 in the transgenic tree plant cell is about 20% to 80% of expression of endogenous glycolate transporter Plgg1 in a tree plant cell that is not transformed with the inhibitory polynucleotide targeting an endogenous glycolate transporter Plgg1, and wherein the transgenic tree plant cell is from a tree selected from Populus, Pinus taeda, and Picea abies; 
regenerating a tree from the transformed tree plant cell; and
subjecting the tree to drought conditions, wherein said transforming increases photosynthetic activity and stomatal conductance under drought conditions in the regenerated tree.