# Patent

## Title
Plants having altered growth and/or development resulted from modulated expression of ubiquitin-specific proteases and a method for making the same

## Abstract

The present invention relates generally to the field of molecular biology and concerns a method for altering various aspects of plant growth and/or development by modulating expression in a plant of a nucleic acid encoding an UBiquitin-Specific Protease (UBP) of the UBP15 subfamily or a homologue thereof. The present invention also concerns plants having modulated expression of a nucleic acid encoding a UBP15 or a homologue thereof, which plants have altered growth and/or development relative to corresponding wild type plants or other control plants. The invention also provides constructs useful in the methods of the invention.

## Background
RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a national stage application (under 35 U.S.C. §371) of PCT/IB2009/050372, filed Jan. 30, 2009, is a continuation-in-part of PCT application PCT/CN2008/000245, filed Jan. 31, 2008.


SUBMISSION OF SEQUENCE LISTING
The sequence Listing with this application is filed in electronic format via EFS-Web and hereby incorporated by reference into the specification in its entirety. The name of the text file containing the Sequence Listing is Sequence13List1312810130104813US. The size of the text file is 127 KB, and the text file was created on Jul. 23, 2010.
The present invention relates generally to the field of molecular biology and concerns a method for altering various aspects of plant growth and/or development by modulating expression in a plant of a nucleic acid encoding an UBiquitin-Specific Protease (UBP) of the UBP15 subfamily or a homologue thereof. The present invention also concerns plants having modulated expression of a nucleic acid encoding such a UBP15 polypeptide or a homologue thereof, which plants have altered growth and/or development relative to corresponding wild type plants or other control plants. The invention also provides constructs useful in the methods of the invention.
The ever-increasing world population and the dwindling supply of arable land available for agriculture fuels research towards increasing the efficiency of agriculture. Conventional means for crop and horticultural improvements utilise selective breeding techniques to identify plants having desirable characteristics. However, such selective breeding techniques have several drawbacks, namely that these techniques are typically labour intensive and result in plants that often contain heterogeneous genetic components that may not always result in the desirable trait being passed on from parent plants. Advances in molecular biology have allowed mankind to modify the germplasm of animals and plants. Genetic engineering of plants entails the isolation and manipulation of genetic material (typically in the form of DNA or RNA) and the subsequent introduction of that genetic material into a plant. Such technology has the capacity to deliver crops or plants having various improved economic, agronomic or horticultural traits.
It has now been found that plant growth and/or development may be altered by modulating expression in a plant of a nucleic acid encoding a UBP15 polypeptide or a homologue thereof.
BACKGROUND
Ubiquitin-Specific Proteases (UBPs) are a conserved family of proteins in eukaryotes that play critical roles in protein de-ubiquitination. The covalent modification of proteins by ubiquitin play a central role in diverse cellular pathways such as cell cycle progression, signal transduction, transcriptional regulation, DNA repair, stress responses, endocytosis and apoptosis (Hochstrasser, 1996; Varshaysky, 1997; Hershko and Ciechanover, 1998; Weissman, 2001; Pickart, 2004). Protein ubiquitination is catalyzed by a cascade of three enzymes. Ubiquitn is first activated by ubiquitin-activating enzyme (E1), which forms a thiolester bond with the ubiquitin C-terminus. Ubiquitin is then transferred to ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme (E2). Although some E2s can catalyze ligation of the ubiquitin C-terminus to the lysine residue of target proteins with the aid of ubiquitin ligases (E3s), other E2s transfer their conjugated ubiquitin to E3s before targetting to substrates. Target substrate proteins can be mono-ubiquitinated or multi-ubiquitinated by successive conjugation of the ubiquitin C-terminus to the lysine residue of the prior one through several possible linkages. The fate of ubiquitinated substrate proteins depends in part on the number of conjugated ubiquitin(s) and on the mode of linkage in the ubiquitin chain. The most common ubiquitination is multi-ubiquitin chain (ubiquitin number>=4) linked by Lys48, acting as a signal for protein degradation by 26S proteasome.
Cleavage of ubiquitin from proteins by de-ubiquitination enzymes (DUBs) can also affect the ubiquitinated substrate protein's activity and fate (Wilkinson, 1997; Amerik and Hochstrasser, 2004; Crosas et al., 2006; Hanna et al., 2006). Those DUBs are proteases that specifically cleave the peptide bond between ubiquitins or between the C-terminus of ubiquitin and covalently attached polypeptides. The currently known DUBs together carry out four types of essential biochemical functions: first, they generate mature ubiquitins from ubiquitin precursors (fused to ribosomal protein) and polyubiquitin gene products; secondly, they rescue proteins that are inappropriately ubiquitinated; thirdly, they cleave ubiquitin (chains) from attached substrate proteins; and fourth, release free ubiquitin monomers from multi-ubiquitin chains. The last three roles are accompanied by cleavage of the isopeptide bonds between the ubiquitin C-terminus Gly and Lys ε-amino residue of a target protein.
Cysteine proteases and metalloproteases are the two major groups of the DUB superfamily, with cysteine proteases being most numerous in eukaryotes (Nijman et al., 2005). All known metalloproteases have a JAMM domain for catalytic activity (Verma et al., 2002). The cysteine protease DUBs can be further divided into four families based on the organization of ubiquitin-protease catalytic center structure and organization (Wilkinson, 1997; Amerik and Hochstrasser, 2004; Nijman et al., 2005). Ubiquitin-Specific Proteases (UBP, or USPs as defined in mammals) possess catalytic triad residues in highly conserved cysteine box and histidine box (Hu et al., 2002). Ubiquitin C-terminal Hydrolases (UCHs), with similar catalytic triad residues in two conserved cysteine and histidine boxes (Johnston et al., 1997; Johnston et al., 1999), have a smaller overall protein size as well as a structural obstacle over the catalytic surface to restrict their ability to hydrolyze only small amides and esters at the C-terminus of ubiquitin (Amerik and Hochstrasser, 2004). Ovarian Tumor Proteases (OTUs) have a catalytic triad comparable to above two families in Cysteine and Histidine boxes but containing an OTU-related motif and being considered as a part of UBP family (Balakirev et al., 2003; Nanao et al., 2004). Lastly, Machado-Joseph Disease Protein Domain Proteases (MJDs) possess a cysteine and histidine box-like domain but with rather low sequence similarity to the other three groups (Burnett et al., 2003; Scheel et al., 2003). The UBP family makes up the bulk of the cysteine proteases. All four types of the above mentioned DUB biochemical functions are found in UBPs family, while UCHs only perform their functions on small proteins and ubiquitin precursor.
In the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, an in silico analysis of the completely sequenced genome revealed a total of 27 UBPs based on the presence of the conserved Cys and His boxes; those 27 UBPs were further divided into 14 subfamilies (Yan et al., 2000). Previous reports showed that UBP3 and UBP4 constitute one subfamily, possess UBP activity in vitro and are present in the nucleus (Chandler et al., 1997; Rao-Naik et al., 2000). Another member, UBP5, was shown also to have de-ubiquitination activity in vitro (Rao-Naik et al., 2000). A genetic analysis of UBP1 and UBP2, members of another subfamily, were reported to be required for resistance to the amino acid analog canavanine (Yan et al., 2000). Furthermore, a loss-of-function mutation in UBP14 was shown to be lethal in early embryo development (Doelling et al., 2001).
SUMMARY
Surprisingly, it has now been found that modulating expression of a nucleic acid encoding a UBP15 polypeptide or a homologue thereof gives plants altered growth and/or development relative to control plants.
According one embodiment, there is provided a method for altering plant growth and/or development relative to control plants, comprising modulating expression in a plant of a nucleic acid encoding a UBP15 polypeptide or a homologue thereof.
DEFINITIONS
Polypeptide(s)/Protein(s)
The terms “polypeptide” and “protein” are used interchangeably herein and refer to amino acids in a polymeric form of any length, linked together by peptide bonds.
Polynucleotide(s)/Nucleic Acid(s)/Nucleic Acid Sequence(s)/Nucleotide Sequence(s)
The terms “polynucleotide(s)”, “nucleic acid sequence(s)”, “nucleotide sequence(s)”, “nucleic acid(s)”, “nucleic acid molecule” are used interchangeably herein and refer to nucleotides, either ribonucleotides or deoxyribonucleotides or a combination of both, in a polymeric unbranched form of any length.
Control Plant(s)
The choice of suitable control plants is a routine part of an experimental setup and may include corresponding wild type plants or corresponding plants without the gene of interest. The control plant is typically of the same plant species or even of the same variety as the plant to be assessed. The control plant may also be a nullizygote of the plant to be assessed. Nullizygotes are individuals missing the transgene by segregation. A “control plant” as used herein refers not only to whole plants, but also to plant parts, including seeds and seed parts.
Homoloque(s)
“Homologues” of a protein encompass peptides, oligopeptides, polypeptides, proteins and enzymes having amino acid substitutions, deletions and/or insertions relative to the unmodified protein in question and having similar biological and functional activity as the unmodified protein from which they are derived.
A deletion refers to removal of one or more amino acids from a protein.
An insertion refers to one or more amino acid residues being introduced into a predetermined site in a protein. Insertions may comprise N-terminal and/or C-terminal fusions as well as intra-sequence insertions of single or multiple amino acids. Generally, insertions within the amino acid sequence will be smaller than N- or C-terminal fusions, of the order of about 1 to 10 residues. Examples of N- or C-terminal fusion proteins or peptides include the binding domain or activation domain of a transcriptional activator as used in the yeast two-hybrid system, phage coat proteins, (histidine)-6-tag, glutathione S-transferase-tag, protein A, maltose-binding protein, dihydrofolate reductase, Tag·100 epitope, c-myc epitope, FLAG®-epitope, lacZ, CMP (calmodulin-binding peptide), HA epitope, protein C epitope and VSV epitope.
A substitution refers to replacement of amino acids of the protein with other amino acids having similar properties (such as similar hydrophobicity, hydrophilicity, antigenicity, propensity to form or break α-helical structures or β-sheet structures). Amino acid substitutions are typically of single residues, but may be clustered depending upon functional constraints placed upon the polypeptide; insertions will usually be of the order of about 1 to 10 amino acid residues. The amino acid substitutions are preferably conservative amino acid substitutions. Conservative substitution tables are well known in the art (see for example Creighton (1984) Proteins. W.H. Freeman and Company (Eds) and Table A below).







TABLE A







Examples of conserved amino acid substitutions











Conservative



Residue
Substitutions







Ala
Ser



Arg
Lys



Asn
Gln; His



Asp
Glu



Gln
Asn



Cys
Ser



Glu
Asp



Gly
Pro



His
Asn; Gln



Ile
Leu, Val



Leu
Ile; Val



Lys
Arg; Gln



Met
Leu; Ile



Phe
Met; Leu; Tyr



Ser
Thr; Gly



Thr
Ser; Val



Trp
Tyr



Tyr
Trp; Phe



Val
Ile; Leu










Amino acid substitutions, deletions and/or insertions may readily be made using peptide synthetic techniques well known in the art, such as solid phase peptide synthesis and the like, or by recombinant DNA manipulation. Methods for the manipulation of DNA sequences to produce substitution, insertion or deletion variants of a protein are well known in the art. For example, techniques for making substitution mutations at predetermined sites in DNA are well known to those skilled in the art and include M13 mutagenesis, T7-Gen in vitro mutagenesis (USB, Cleveland, Ohio), QuickChange Site Directed mutagenesis (Stratagene, San Diego, Calif.), PCR-mediated site-directed mutagenesis or other site-directed mutagenesis protocols.
Derivatives
“Derivatives” include peptides, oligopeptides, polypeptides which may, compared to the amino acid sequence of the naturally-occurring form of the protein, such as the protein of interest, comprise substitutions of amino acids with non-naturally occurring amino acid residues, or additions of non-naturally occurring amino acid residues. “Derivatives” of a protein also encompass peptides, oligopeptides, polypeptides which comprise naturally occurring altered (glycosylated, acylated, prenylated, phosphorylated, myristoylated, sulphated etc.) or non-naturally altered amino acid residues compared to the amino acid sequence of a naturally-occurring form of the polypeptide. A derivative may also comprise one or more non-amino acid substituents or additions compared to the amino acid sequence from which it is derived, for example a reporter molecule or other ligand, covalently or non-covalently bound to the amino acid sequence, such as a reporter molecule which is bound to facilitate its detection, and non-naturally occurring amino acid residues relative to the amino acid sequence of a naturally-occurring protein. Furthermore, “derivatives” also include fusions of the naturally-occurring form of the protein with tagging peptides such as FLAG, HIS6 or thioredoxin (for a review of tagging peptides, see Terpe, Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 60, 523-533, 2003).
Ortholoque(s)/Paraloque(s)
Orthologues and paralogues encompass evolutionary concepts used to describe the ancestral relationships of genes. Paralogues are genes within the same species that have originated through duplication of an ancestral gene; orthologues are genes from different organisms that have originated through speciation, and are also derived from a common ancestral gene.
Domain
The term “domain” refers to a set of amino acids conserved at specific positions along an alignment of sequences of evolutionarily related proteins. While amino acids at other positions can vary between homologues, amino acids that are highly conserved at specific positions indicate amino acids that are likely essential in the structure, stability or function of a protein. Identified by their high degree of conservation in aligned sequences of a family of protein homologues, they can be used as identifiers to determine if any polypeptide in question belongs to a previously identified polypeptide family.
Motif/Consensus Sequence/Signature
The term “motif” or “consensus sequence” or “signature” refers to a short conserved region in the sequence of evolutionarily related proteins. Motifs are frequently highly conserved parts of domains, but may also include only part of the domain, or be located outside of conserved domain (if all of the amino acids of the motif fall outside of a defined domain).
Hybridisation
The term “hybridisation” as defined herein is a process wherein substantially homologous complementary nucleotide sequences anneal to each other. The hybridisation process can occur entirely in solution, i.e. both complementary nucleic acids are in solution. The hybridisation process can also occur with one of the complementary nucleic acids immobilised to a matrix such as magnetic beads, Sepharose beads or any other resin. The hybridisation process can furthermore occur with one of the complementary nucleic acids immobilised to a solid support such as a nitro-cellulose or nylon membrane or immobilised by e.g. photolithography to, for example, a siliceous glass support (the latter known as nucleic acid arrays or microarrays or as nucleic acid chips). In order to allow hybridisation to occur, the nucleic acid molecules are generally thermally or chemically denatured to melt a double strand into two single strands and/or to remove hairpins or other secondary structures from single stranded nucleic acids.
The term “stringency” refers to the conditions under which a hybridisation takes place. The stringency of hybridisation is influenced by conditions such as temperature, salt concentration, ionic strength and hybridisation buffer composition. Generally, low stringency conditions are selected to be about 30° C. lower than the thermal melting point (Tm) for the specific sequence at a defined ionic strength and pH. Medium stringency conditions are when the temperature is 20° C. below Tm, and high stringency conditions are when the temperature is 10° C. below Tm. High stringency hybridisation conditions are typically used for isolating hybridising sequences that have high sequence similarity to the target nucleic acid sequence. However, nucleic acids may deviate in sequence and still encode a substantially identical polypeptide, due to the degeneracy of the genetic code. Therefore medium stringency hybridisation conditions may sometimes be needed to identify such nucleic acid molecules.
The Tm is the temperature under defined ionic strength and pH, at which 50% of the target sequence hybridises to a perfectly matched probe. The Tm is dependent upon the solution conditions and the base composition and length of the probe. For example, longer sequences hybridise specifically at higher temperatures. The maximum rate of hybridisation is obtained from about 16° C. up to 32° C. below Tm. The presence of monovalent cations in the hybridisation solution reduce the electrostatic repulsion between the two nucleic acid strands thereby promoting hybrid formation; this effect is visible for sodium concentrations of up to 0.4M (for higher concentrations, this effect may be ignored). Formamide reduces the melting temperature of DNA-DNA and DNA-RNA duplexes with 0.6 to 0.7° C. for each percent formamide, and addition of 50% formamide allows hybridisation to be performed at 30 to 45° C., though the rate of hybridisation will be lowered. Base pair mismatches reduce the hybridisation rate and the thermal stability of the duplexes. On average and for large probes, the Tm decreases about 1° C. per % base mismatch. The Tm may be calculated using the following equations, depending on the types of hybrids:

    1) DNA-DNA hybrids (Meinkoth and Wahl, Anal. Biochem., 138: 267-284, 1984):
    
        Tm=81.5° C.+16.6×log10[Na+]a+0.41×%[G/Cb]−500x[Lc]−1−0.61×% formamide
    
    
    2) DNA-RNA or RNA-RNA hybrids:
    
        Tm=79.8+18.5 (log10[Na+]a)+0.58 (% G/Cb)+11.8 (% G/Cb)2−820/Lc 
    
    
    3) oligo-DNA or oligo-RNAd hybrids:
    
        For <20 nucleotides: Tm=2 (In)
        For 20-35 nucleotides: Tm=22+1.46 (In) a or for other monovalent cation, but only accurate in the 0.01-0.4 M range.b only accurate for % GC in the 30% to 75% range.c L=length of duplex in base pairs.d oligo, oligonucleotide; In,=effective length of primer=2×(no. of G/C)+(no. of A/T).
    
    


Non-specific binding may be controlled using any one of a number of known techniques such as, for example, blocking the membrane with protein containing solutions, additions of heterologous RNA, DNA, and SDS to the hybridisation buffer, and treatment with Rnase. For non-homologous probes, a series of hybridizations may be performed by varying one of (i) progressively lowering the annealing temperature (for example from 68° C. to 42° C.) or (ii) progressively lowering the formamide concentration (for example from 50% to 0%). The skilled artisan is aware of various parameters which may be altered during hybridisation and which will either maintain or change the stringency conditions.
Besides the hybridisation conditions, specificity of hybridisation typically also depends on the function of post-hybridisation washes. To remove background resulting from non-specific hybridisation, samples are washed with dilute salt solutions. Critical factors of such washes include the ionic strength and temperature of the final wash solution: the lower the salt concentration and the higher the wash temperature, the higher the stringency of the wash. Wash conditions are typically performed at or below hybridisation stringency. A positive hybridisation gives a signal that is at least twice of that of the background. Generally, suitable stringent conditions for nucleic acid hybridisation assays or gene amplification detection procedures are as set forth above. More or less stringent conditions may also be selected. The skilled artisan is aware of various parameters which may be altered during washing and which will either maintain or change the stringency conditions.
For example, typical high stringency hybridisation conditions for DNA hybrids longer than 50 nucleotides encompass hybridisation at 65° C. in 1×SSC or at 42° C. in 1×SSC and 50% formamide, followed by washing at 65° C. in 0.3×SSC. Examples of medium stringency hybridisation conditions for DNA hybrids longer than 50 nucleotides encompass hybridisation at 50° C. in 4×SSC or at 40° C. in 6×SSC and 50% formamide, followed by washing at 50° C. in 2×SSC. The length of the hybrid is the anticipated length for the hybridising nucleic acid. When nucleic acids of known sequence are hybridised, the hybrid length may be determined by aligning the sequences and identifying the conserved regions described herein. 1×SSC is 0.15M NaCl and 15 mM sodium citrate; the hybridisation solution and wash solutions may additionally include 5× Denhardt's reagent, 0.5-1.0% SDS, 100 μg/ml denatured, fragmented salmon sperm DNA, 0.5% sodium pyrophosphate.
For the purposes of defining the level of stringency, reference can be made to Sambrook et al. (2001) Molecular Cloning: a laboratory manual, 3rd Edition, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, CSH, New York or to Current Protocols in Molecular Biology, John Wiley & Sons, N.Y. (1989 and yearly updates).
Splice Variant
The term “splice variant” as used herein encompasses variants of a nucleic acid sequence in which selected introns and/or exons have been excised, replaced, displaced or added, or in which introns have been shortened or lengthened. Such variants will be ones in which the biological activity of the protein is substantially retained; this may be achieved by selectively retaining functional segments of the protein. Such splice variants may be found in nature or may be manmade. Methods for predicting and isolating such splice variants are well known in the art (see for example Foissac and Schiex (2005) BMC Bioinformatics 6: 25).
Allelic Variant
Alleles or allelic variants are alternative forms of a given gene, located at the same chromosomal position. Allelic variants encompass Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs), as well as Small Insertion/Deletion Polymorphisms (INDELs). The size of INDELs is usually less than 100 bp. SNPs and INDELs form the largest set of sequence variants in naturally occurring polymorphic strains of most organisms.
Gene Shuffling/Directed Evolution
Gene shuffling or directed evolution consists of iterations of DNA shuffling followed by appropriate screening and/or selection to generate variants of nucleic acids or portions thereof encoding proteins having a modified biological activity (Castle et al., (2004) Science 304(5674): 1151-4; U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,811,238 and 6,395,547).
Regulatory Element/Control Sequence/Promoter
The terms “regulatory element”, “control sequence” and “promoter” are all used interchangeably herein and are to be taken in a broad context to refer to regulatory nucleic acid sequences capable of effecting expression of the sequences to which they are ligated. The term “promoter” typically refers to a nucleic acid control sequence located upstream from the transcriptional start of a gene and which is involved in recognising and binding of RNA polymerase and other proteins, thereby directing transcription of an operably linked nucleic acid. Encompassed by the aforementioned terms are transcriptional regulatory sequences derived from a classical eukaryotic genomic gene (including the TATA box which is required for accurate transcription initiation, with or without a CCAAT box sequence) and additional regulatory elements (i.e. upstream activating sequences, enhancers and silencers) which alter gene expression in response to developmental and/or external stimuli, or in a tissue-specific manner. Also included within the term is a transcriptional regulatory sequence of a classical prokaryotic gene, in which case it may include a −35 box sequence and/or −10 box transcriptional regulatory sequences. The term “regulatory element” also encompasses a synthetic fusion molecule or derivative that confers, activates or enhances expression of a nucleic acid molecule in a cell, tissue or organ.
A “plant promoter” comprises regulatory elements, which mediate the expression of a coding sequence segment in plant cells. Accordingly, a plant promoter need not be of plant origin, but may originate from viruses or micro-organisms, for example from viruses which attack plant cells. The “plant promoter” can also originate from a plant cell, e.g. from the plant which is transformed with the nucleic acid sequence to be expressed in the inventive process and described herein. This also applies to other “plant” regulatory signals, such as “plant” terminators. The promoters upstream of the nucleotide sequences useful in the methods of the present invention can be modified by one or more nucleotide substitution(s), insertion(s) and/or deletion(s) without interfering with the functionality or activity of either the promoters, the open reading frame (ORF) or the 3′-regulatory region such as terminators or other 3′ regulatory regions which are located away from the ORF. It is furthermore possible that the activity of the promoters is increased by modification of their sequence, or that they are replaced completely by more active promoters, even promoters from heterologous organisms. For expression in plants, the nucleic acid molecule must, as described above, be linked operably to or comprise a suitable promoter which expresses the gene at the right point in time and with the required spatial expression pattern.
For the identification of functionally equivalent promoters, the promoter strength and/or expression pattern of a candidate promoter may be analysed for example by operably linking the promoter to a reporter gene and assaying the expression level and pattern of the reporter gene in various tissues of the plant. Suitable well-known reporter genes include for example beta-glucuronidase or beta-galactosidase. The promoter activity is assayed by measuring the enzymatic activity of the beta-glucuronidase or beta-galactosidase. The promoter strength and/or expression pattern may then be compared to that of a reference promoter (such as the one used in the methods of the present invention). Alternatively, promoter strength may be assayed by quantifying mRNA levels or by comparing mRNA levels of the nucleic acid used in the methods of the present invention, with mRNA levels of housekeeping genes such as 18S rRNA, using methods known in the art, such as Northern blotting with densitometric analysis of autoradiograms, quantitative real-time PCR or RT-PCR (Heid et al., 1996 Genome Methods 6: 986-994). Generally by “weak promoter” is intended a promoter that drives expression of a coding sequence at a low level. By “low level” is intended at levels of about 1/10,000 transcripts to about 1/100,000 transcripts, to about 1/500,0000 transcripts per cell. Conversely, a “strong promoter” drives expression of a coding sequence at high level, or at about 1/10 transcripts to about 1/100 transcripts to about 1/1000 transcripts per cell.
Operably Linked
The term “operably linked” as used herein refers to a functional linkage between the promoter sequence and the gene of interest, such that the promoter sequence is able to initiate transcription of the gene of interest.
Constitutive Promoter
A “constitutive promoter” refers to a promoter that is transcriptionally active during most, but not necessarily all, phases of growth and development and under most environmental conditions, in at least one cell, tissue or organ. Table B below gives examples of constitutive promoters.







TABLE B







Examples of constitutive promoters








Gene Source
Reference





Actin
McElroy et al, Plant Cell, 2: 163-171, 1990


HMGP
WO 2004/070039


CAMV 35S
Odell et al, Nature, 313: 810-812, 1985


CaMV 19S
Nilsson et al., Physiol. Plant. 100: 456-462, 1997


GOS2
de Pater et al, Plant J Nov; 2(6): 837-44, 1992,



WO 2004/065596


Ubiquitin
Christensen et al, Plant Mol. Biol. 18: 675-689,



1992


Rice cyclophilin
Buchholz et al, Plant Mol Biol. 25(5): 837-43, 1994


Maize H3 histone
Lepetit et al, Mol. Gen. Genet. 231: 276-285, 1992


Alfalfa H3 histone
Wu et al. Plant Mol. Biol. 11: 641-649, 1988


Actin 2
An et al, Plant J. 10(1); 107-121, 1996


34S FMV
Sanger et al., Plant. Mol. Biol., 14, 1990: 433-443


Rubisco small
U.S. Pat. No. 4,962,028


subunit


OCS
Leisner (1988) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 85(5): 2553


SAD1
Jain et al., Crop Science, 39 (6), 1999: 1696


SAD2
Jain et al., Crop Science, 39 (6), 1999: 1696


Nos
Shaw et al. (1984) Nucleic Acids Res.



12(20): 7831-7846


V-ATPase
WO 01/14572


Super promoter
WO 95/14098


G-box proteins
WO 94/12015









Ubiquitous Promoter

A ubiquitous promoter is active in substantially all tissues or cells of an organism.
Developmentally-Regulated Promoter
A developmentally-regulated promoter is active during certain developmental stages or in parts of the plant that undergo developmental changes.
Inducible Promoter
An inducible promoter has induced or increased transcription initiation in response to a chemical (for a review see Gatz 1997, Annu. Rev. Plant Physiol. Plant Mol. Biol., 48:89-108), environmental or physical stimulus, or may be “stress-inducible”, i.e. activated when a plant is exposed to various stress conditions, or a “pathogen-inducible” i.e. activated when a plant is exposed to exposure to various pathogens.
Organ-Specific/Tissue-Specific Promoter
An organ-specific or tissue-specific promoter is one that is capable of preferentially initiating transcription in certain organs or tissues, such as the leaves, roots, seed tissue etc. For example, a “root-specific promoter” is a promoter that is transcriptionally active predominantly in plant roots, substantially to the exclusion of any other parts of a plant, whilst still allowing for any leaky expression in these other plant parts. Promoters able to initiate transcription in certain cells only are referred to herein as “cell-specific”.
A seed-specific promoter is transcriptionally active predominantly in seed tissue, but not necessarily exclusively in seed tissue (in cases of leaky expression). The seed-specific promoter may be active during seed development and/or during germination. The seed specific promoter may be endosperm and/or aleurone and/or embryo-specific.
Terminator
The term “terminator” encompasses a control sequence which is a DNA sequence at the end of a transcriptional unit which signals 3′ processing and polyadenylation of a primary transcript and termination of transcription. The terminator can be derived from the natural gene, from a variety of other plant genes, or from T-DNA. The terminator to be added may be derived from, for example, the nopaline synthase or octopine synthase genes, or alternatively from another plant gene, or less preferably from any other eukaryotic gene.
Modulation
The term “modulation” means in relation to expression or gene expression, a process in which the expression level is changed by said gene expression in comparison to the control plant, the expression level may be increased or decreased. The original, unmodulated expression may be of any kind of expression of a structural RNA (rRNA, tRNA) or mRNA with subsequent translation.
Expression
The term “expression” or “gene expression” means the transcription of a specific gene or specific genes or specific genetic construct. The term “expression” or “gene expression” in particular means the transcription of a gene or genes or genetic construct into structural RNA (rRNA, tRNA) or mRNA with or without subsequent translation of the latter into a protein. The process includes transcription of DNA and processing of the resulting mRNA product.
Increased Expression/Overexpression
The term “increased expression” or “overexpression” as used herein means any form of expression that is additional to the original wild-type expression level.
Methods for increasing expression of genes or gene products are well documented in the art and include, for example, overexpression driven by appropriate promoters, the use of transcription enhancers or translation enhancers. Isolated nucleic acids which serve as promoter or enhancer elements may be introduced in an appropriate position (typically upstream) of a non-heterologous form of a polynucleotide so as to upregulate expression of a nucleic acid encoding the polypeptide of interest. For example, endogenous promoters may be altered in vivo by mutation, deletion, and/or substitution (see, Kmiec, U.S. Pat. No. 5,565,350; Zarling et al., WO9322443), or isolated promoters may be introduced into a plant cell in the proper orientation and distance from a gene of the present invention so as to control the expression of the gene.
If polypeptide expression is desired, it is generally desirable to include a polyadenylation region at the 3′-end of a polynucleotide coding region. The polyadenylation region can be derived from the natural gene, from a variety of other plant genes, or from T-DNA. The 3′ end sequence to be added may be derived from, for example, the nopaline synthase or octopine synthase genes, or alternatively from another plant gene, or less preferably from any other eukaryotic gene.
An intron sequence may also be added to the 5′ untranslated region (UTR) or the coding sequence of the partial coding sequence to increase the amount of the mature message that accumulates in the cytosol. Inclusion of a spliceable intron in the transcription unit in both plant and animal expression constructs has been shown to increase gene expression at both the mRNA and protein levels up to 1000-fold (Buchman and Berg (1988) Mol. Cell biol. 8: 4395-4405; Callis et al. (1987) Genes Dev 1:1183-1200). Such intron enhancement of gene expression is typically greatest when placed near the 5′ end of the transcription unit. Use of the maize introns Adh1-S intron 1, 2, and 6, the Bronze-1 intron are known in the art. For general information see: The Maize Handbook, Chapter 116, Freeling and Walbot, Eds., Springer, N.Y. (1994).
Endogenous Gene
Reference herein to an “endogenous” gene not only refers to the gene in question as found in a plant in its natural form (i.e., without there being any human intervention), but also refers to that same gene (or a substantially homologous nucleic acid/gene) in an isolated form subsequently (re)introduced into a plant (a transgene). For example, a transgenic plant containing such a transgene may encounter a substantial reduction of the transgene expression and/or substantial reduction of expression of the endogenous gene. The isolated gene may be isolated from an organism or may be manmade, for example by chemical synthesis.
Decreased Expression
Reference herein to “decrease depression” or “reduction or substantial elimination” of expression is taken to mean a decrease in endogenous gene expression and/or polypeptide levels and/or polypeptide activity relative to control plants. The reduction or substantial elimination is in increasing order of preference at least 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% or 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 85%, 90%, or 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, 99% or more reduced compared to that of control plants.
For the reduction or substantial elimination of expression an endogenous gene in a plant, a sufficient length of substantially contiguous nucleotides of a nucleic acid sequence is required. In order to perform gene silencing, this may be as little as 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10 or fewer nucleotides, alternatively this may be as much as the entire gene (including the 5′ and/or 3′ UTR, either in part or in whole). The stretch of substantially contiguous nucleotides may be derived from the nucleic acid encoding the protein of interest (target gene), or from any nucleic acid capable of encoding an orthologue, paralogue or homologue of the protein of interest. Preferably, the stretch of substantially contiguous nucleotides is capable of forming hydrogen bonds with the target gene (either sense or antisense strand), more preferably, the stretch of substantially contiguous nucleotides has, in increasing order of preference, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, 96% 97%, 98%, 99%, 100% sequence identity to the target gene (either sense or antisense strand). A nucleic acid sequence encoding a (functional) polypeptide is not a requirement for the various methods discussed herein for the reduction or substantial elimination of expression of an endogenous gene.
This reduction or substantial elimination of expression may be achieved using routine tools and techniques. A preferred method for the reduction or substantial elimination of endogenous gene expression is by introducing and expressing in a plant a genetic construct into which the nucleic acid (in this case a stretch of substantially contiguous nucleotides derived from the gene of interest, or from any nucleic acid capable of encoding an orthologue, paralogue or homologue of any one of the protein of interest) is cloned as an inverted repeat (in part or completely), separated by a spacer (non-coding DNA).
In such a preferred method, expression of the endogenous gene is reduced or substantially eliminated through RNA-mediated silencing using an inverted repeat of a nucleic acid or a part thereof (in this case a stretch of substantially contiguous nucleotides derived from the gene of interest, or from any nucleic acid capable of encoding an orthologue, paralogue or homologue of the protein of interest), preferably capable of forming a hairpin structure. The inverted repeat is cloned in an expression vector comprising control sequences. A non-coding DNA nucleic acid sequence (a spacer, for example a matrix attachment region fragment (MAR), an intron, a polylinker, etc.) is located between the two inverted nucleic acids forming the inverted repeat. After transcription of the inverted repeat, a chimeric RNA with a self-complementary structure is formed (partial or complete). This double-stranded RNA structure is referred to as the hairpin RNA (hpRNA). The hpRNA is processed by the plant into siRNAs that are incorporated into an RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC). The RISC further cleaves the mRNA transcripts, thereby substantially reducing the number of mRNA transcripts to be translated into polypeptides. For further general details see for example, Grierson et al. (1998) WO 98/53083; Waterhouse et al. (1999) WO 99/53050).
Performance of the methods of the invention does not rely on introducing and expressing in a plant a genetic construct into which the nucleic acid is cloned as an inverted repeat, but any one or more of several well-known “gene silencing” methods may be used to achieve the same effects.
One such method for the reduction of endogenous gene expression is RNA-mediated silencing of gene expression (downregulation). Silencing in this case is triggered in a plant by a double stranded RNA sequence (dsRNA) that is substantially similar to the target endogenous gene. This dsRNA is further processed by the plant into about 20 to about 26 nucleotides called short interfering RNAs (siRNAs). The siRNAs are incorporated into an RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) that cleaves the mRNA transcript of the endogenous target gene, thereby substantially reducing the number of mRNA transcripts to be translated into a polypeptide. Preferably, the double stranded RNA sequence corresponds to a target gene.
Another example of an RNA silencing method involves the introduction of nucleic acid sequences or parts thereof (in this case a stretch of substantially contiguous nucleotides derived from the gene of interest, or from any nucleic acid capable of encoding an orthologue, paralogue or homologue of the protein of interest) in a sense orientation into a plant. “Sense orientation” refers to a DNA sequence that is homologous to an mRNA transcript thereof. Introduced into a plant would therefore be at least one copy of the nucleic acid sequence. The additional nucleic acid sequence will reduce expression of the endogenous gene, giving rise to a phenomenon known as co-suppression. The reduction of gene expression will be more pronounced if several additional copies of a nucleic acid sequence are introduced into the plant, as there is a positive correlation between high transcript levels and the triggering of co-suppression.
Another example of an RNA silencing method involves the use of antisense nucleic acid sequences. An “antisense” nucleic acid sequence comprises a nucleotide sequence that is complementary to a “sense” nucleic acid sequence encoding a protein, i.e. complementary to the coding strand of a double-stranded cDNA molecule or complementary to an mRNA transcript sequence. The antisense nucleic acid sequence is preferably complementary to the endogenous gene to be silenced. The complementarity may be located in the “coding region” and/or in the “non-coding region” of a gene. The term “coding region” refers to a region of the nucleotide sequence comprising codons that are translated into amino acid residues. The term “non-coding region” refers to 5′ and 3′ sequences that flank the coding region that are transcribed but not translated into amino acids (also referred to as 5′ and 3′ untranslated regions).
Antisense nucleic acid sequences can be designed according to the rules of Watson and Crick base pairing. The antisense nucleic acid sequence may be complementary to the entire nucleic acid sequence (in this case a stretch of substantially contiguous nucleotides derived from the gene of interest, or from any nucleic acid capable of encoding an orthologue, paralogue or homologue of the protein of interest), but may also be an oligonucleotide that is antisense to only a part of the nucleic acid sequence (including the mRNA 5′ and 3′ UTR). For example, the antisense oligonucleotide sequence may be complementary to the region surrounding the translation start site of an mRNA transcript encoding a polypeptide. The length of a suitable antisense oligonucleotide sequence is known in the art and may start from about 50, 45, 40, 35, 30, 25, 20, 15 or 10 nucleotides in length or less. An antisense nucleic acid sequence according to the invention may be constructed using chemical synthesis and enzymatic ligation reactions using methods known in the art. For example, an antisense nucleic acid sequence (e.g., an antisense oligonucleotide sequence) may be chemically synthesized using naturally occurring nucleotides or variously modified nucleotides designed to increase the biological stability of the molecules or to increase the physical stability of the duplex formed between the antisense and sense nucleic acid sequences, e.g., phosphorothioate derivatives and acridine substituted nucleotides may be used. Examples of modified nucleotides that may be used to generate the antisense nucleic acid sequences are well known in the art. Known nucleotide modifications include methylation, cyclization and ‘caps’ and substitution of one or more of the naturally occurring nucleotides with an analogue such as inosine. Other modifications of nucleotides are well known in the art.
The antisense nucleic acid sequence can be produced biologically using an expression vector into which a nucleic acid sequence has been subcloned in an antisense orientation (i.e., RNA transcribed from the inserted nucleic acid will be of an antisense orientation to a target nucleic acid of interest). Preferably, production of antisense nucleic acid sequences in plants occurs by means of a stably integrated nucleic acid construct comprising a promoter, an operably linked antisense oligonucleotide, and a terminator.
The nucleic acid molecules used for silencing in the methods of the invention (whether introduced into a plant or generated in situ) hybridize with or bind to mRNA transcripts and/or genomic DNA encoding a polypeptide to thereby inhibit expression of the protein, e.g., by inhibiting transcription and/or translation. The hybridization can be by conventional nucleotide complementarity to form a stable duplex, or, for example, in the case of an antisense nucleic acid sequence which binds to DNA duplexes, through specific interactions in the major groove of the double helix. Antisense nucleic acid sequences may be introduced into a plant by transformation or direct injection at a specific tissue site. Alternatively, antisense nucleic acid sequences can be modified to target selected cells and then administered systemically. For example, for systemic administration, antisense nucleic acid sequences can be modified such that they specifically bind to receptors or antigens expressed on a selected cell surface, e.g., by linking the antisense nucleic acid sequence to peptides or antibodies which bind to cell surface receptors or antigens. The antisense nucleic acid sequences can also be delivered to cells using the vectors described herein.
According to a further aspect, the antisense nucleic acid sequence is an a-anomeric nucleic acid sequence. An a-anomeric nucleic acid sequence forms specific double-stranded hybrids with complementary RNA in which, contrary to the usual b-units, the strands run parallel to each other (Gaultier et al. (1987) Nucl Ac Res 15: 6625-6641). The antisense nucleic acid sequence may also comprise a 2′-o-methylribonucleotide (Inoue et al. (1987) Nucl Ac Res 15, 6131-6148) or a chimeric RNA-DNA analogue (Inoue et al. (1987) FEBS Lett. 215, 327-330).
The reduction or substantial elimination of endogenous gene expression may also be performed using ribozymes. Ribozymes are catalytic RNA molecules with ribonuclease activity that are capable of cleaving a single-stranded nucleic acid sequence, such as an mRNA, to which they have a complementary region. Thus, ribozymes (e.g., hammerhead ribozymes (described in Haselhoff and Gerlach (1988) Nature 334, 585-591) can be used to catalytically cleave mRNA transcripts encoding a polypeptide, thereby substantially reducing the number of mRNA transcripts to be translated into a polypeptide. A ribozyme having specificity for a nucleic acid sequence can be designed (see for example: Cech et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,987,071; and Cech et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,116,742). Alternatively, mRNA transcripts corresponding to a nucleic acid sequence can be used to select a catalytic RNA having a specific ribonuclease activity from a pool of RNA molecules (Bartel and Szostak (1993) Science 261, 1411-1418). The use of ribozymes for gene silencing in plants is known in the art (e.g., Atkins et al. (1994) WO 94/00012; Lenne et al. (1995) WO 95/03404; Lutziger et al. (2000) WO 00/00619; Prinsen et al. (1997) WO 97/13865 and Scott et al. (1997) WO 97/38116).
Gene silencing may also be achieved by insertion mutagenesis (for example, T-DNA insertion or transposon insertion) or by strategies as described by, among others, Angell and Baulcombe ((1999) Plant J 20(3): 357-62), (Amplicon VIGS WO 98/36083), or Baulcombe (WO 99/15682).
Gene silencing may also occur if there is a mutation on an endogenous gene and/or a mutation on an isolated gene/nucleic acid subsequently introduced into a plant. The reduction or substantial elimination may be caused by a non-functional polypeptide. For example, the polypeptide may bind to various interacting proteins; one or more mutation(s) and/or truncation(s) may therefore provide for a polypeptide that is still able to bind interacting proteins (such as receptor proteins) but that cannot exhibit its normal function (such as signalling ligand).
A further approach to gene silencing is by targeting nucleic acid sequences complementary to the regulatory region of the gene (e.g., the promoter and/or enhancers) to form triple helical structures that prevent transcription of the gene in target cells. See Helene, C., Anticancer Drug Res. 6, 569-84, 1991; Helene et al., Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 660, 27-36 1992; and Maher, L.J. Bioassays 14, 807-15, 1992.
Other methods, such as the use of antibodies directed to an endogenous polypeptide for inhibiting its function in planta, or interference in the signalling pathway in which a polypeptide is involved, will be well known to the skilled man. In particular, it can be envisaged that manmade molecules may be useful for inhibiting the biological function of a target polypeptide, or for interfering with the signalling pathway in which the target polypeptide is involved.
Alternatively, a screening program may be set up to identify in a plant population natural variants of a gene, which variants encode polypeptides with reduced activity. Such natural variants may also be used for example, to perform homologous recombination.
Artificial and/or natural microRNAs (miRNAs) may be used to knock out gene expression and/or mRNA translation. Endogenous miRNAs are single stranded small RNAs of typically 19-24 nucleotides long. They function primarily to regulate gene expression and/or mRNA translation. Most plant microRNAs (miRNAs) have perfect or near-perfect complementarity with their target sequences. However, there are natural targets with up to five mismatches. They are processed from longer non-coding RNAs with characteristic fold-back structures by double-strand specific RNases of the Dicer family. Upon processing, they are incorporated in the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) by binding to its main component, an Argonaute protein. MiRNAs serve as the specificity components of RISC, since they base-pair to target nucleic acids, mostly mRNAs, in the cytoplasm. Subsequent regulatory events include target mRNA cleavage and destruction and/or translational inhibition. Effects of miRNA overexpression are thus often reflected in decreased mRNA levels of target genes.
Artificial microRNAs (amiRNAs), which are typically 21 nucleotides in length, can be genetically engineered specifically to negatively regulate gene expression of single or multiple genes of interest. Determinants of plant microRNA target selection are well known in the art. Empirical parameters for target recognition have been defined and can be used to aid in the design of specific amiRNAs, (Schwab et al., Dev. Cell 8, 517-527, 2005). Convenient tools for design and generation of amiRNAs and their precursors are also available to the public (Schwab et al., Plant Cell 18, 1121-1133, 2006).
For optimal performance, the gene silencing techniques used for reducing expression in a plant of an endogenous gene requires the use of nucleic acid sequences from monocotyledonous plants for transformation of monocotyledonous plants, and from dicotyledonous plants for transformation of dicotyledonous plants. Preferably, a nucleic acid sequence from any given plant species is introduced into that same species. For example, a nucleic acid sequence from rice is transformed into a rice plant. However, it is not an absolute requirement that the nucleic acid sequence to be introduced originates from the same plant species as the plant in which it will be introduced. It is sufficient that there is substantial homology between the endogenous target gene and the nucleic acid to be introduced.
Described above are examples of various methods for the reduction or substantial elimination of expression in a plant of an endogenous gene. A person skilled in the art would readily be able to adapt the aforementioned methods for silencing so as to achieve reduction of expression of an endogenous gene in a whole plant or in parts thereof through the use of an appropriate promoter, for example.
Selectable Marker (Gene)/Reporter Gene
“Selectable marker”, “selectable marker gene” or “reporter gene” includes any gene that confers a phenotype on a cell in which it is expressed to facilitate the identification and/or selection of cells that are transfected or transformed with a nucleic acid construct of the invention. These marker genes enable the identification of a successful transfer of the nucleic acid molecules via a series of different principles. Suitable markers may be selected from markers that confer antibiotic or herbicide resistance, that introduce a new metabolic trait or that allow visual selection. Examples of selectable marker genes include genes conferring resistance to antibiotics (such as nptII that phosphorylates neomycin and kanamycin, or hpt, phosphorylating hygromycin, or genes conferring resistance to, for example, bleomycin, streptomycin, tetracyclin, chloramphenicol, ampicillin, gentamycin, geneticin (G418), spectinomycin or blasticidin), to herbicides (for example bar which provides resistance to Basta®; aroA or gox providing resistance against glyphosate, or the genes conferring resistance to, for example, imidazolinone, phosphinothricin or sulfonylurea), or genes that provide a metabolic trait (such as manA that allows plants to use mannose as sole carbon source or xylose isomerase for the utilisation of xylose, or antinutritive markers such as the resistance to 2-deoxyglucose). Expression of visual marker genes results in the formation of colour (for example β-glucuronidase, GUS or β-galactosidase with its coloured substrates, for example X-Gal), luminescence (such as the luciferin/luceferase system) or fluorescence (Green Fluorescent Protein, GFP, and derivatives thereof). This list represents only a small number of possible markers. The skilled worker is familiar with such markers. Different markers are preferred, depending on the organism and the selection method.
It is known that upon stable or transient integration of nucleic acids into plant cells, only a minority of the cells takes up the foreign DNA and, if desired, integrates it into its genome, depending on the expression vector used and the transfection technique used. To identify and select these integrants, a gene coding for a selectable marker (such as the ones described above) is usually introduced into the host cells together with the gene of interest. These markers can for example be used in mutants in which these genes are not functional by, for example, deletion by conventional methods. Furthermore, nucleic acid molecules encoding a selectable marker can be introduced into a host cell on the same vector that comprises the sequence encoding the polypeptides of the invention or used in the methods of the invention, or else in a separate vector. Cells which have been stably transfected with the introduced nucleic acid can be identified for example by selection (for example, cells which have integrated the selectable marker survive whereas the other cells die).
Since the marker genes, particularly genes for resistance to antibiotics and herbicides, are no longer required or are undesired in the transgenic host cell once the nucleic acids have been introduced successfully, the process according to the invention for introducing the nucleic acids advantageously employs techniques which enable the removal or excision of these marker genes. One such a method is what is known as co-transformation. The co-transformation method employs two vectors simultaneously for the transformation, one vector bearing the nucleic acid according to the invention and a second bearing the marker gene(s). A large proportion of transformants receives or, in the case of plants, comprises (up to 40% or more of the transformants), both vectors. In case of transformation with Agrobacteria, the transformants usually receive only a part of the vector, i.e. the sequence flanked by the T-DNA, which usually represents the expression cassette. The marker genes can subsequently be removed from the transformed plant by performing crosses. In another method, marker genes integrated into a transposon are used for the transformation together with desired nucleic acid (known as the Ac/Ds technology). The transformants can be crossed with a transposase source or the transformants are transformed with a nucleic acid construct conferring expression of a transposase, transiently or stable. In some cases (approx. 10%), the transposon jumps out of the genome of the host cell once transformation has taken place successfully and is lost. In a further number of cases, the transposon jumps to a different location. In these cases the marker gene must be eliminated by performing crosses. In microbiology, techniques were developed which make possible, or facilitate, the detection of such events. A further advantageous method relies on what is known as recombination systems; whose advantage is that elimination by crossing can be dispensed with. The best-known system of this type is what is known as the Cre/lox system. Cre1 is a recombinase that removes the sequences located between the loxP sequences. If the marker gene is integrated between the loxP sequences, it is removed once transformation has taken place successfully, by expression of the recombinase. Further recombination systems are the HIN/HIX, FLP/FRT and REP/STB system (Tribble et al., J. Biol. Chem., 275, 2000: 22255-22267; Velmurugan et al., J. Cell Biol., 149, 2000: 553-566). A site-specific integration into the plant genome of the nucleic acid sequences according to the invention is possible. Naturally, these methods can also be applied to microorganisms such as yeast, fungi or bacteria.
Transgenic/Transgene/Recombinant
For the purposes of the invention, “transgenic”, “transgene” or “recombinant” means with regard to, for example, a nucleic acid sequence, an expression cassette, gene construct or a vector comprising the nucleic acid sequence or an organism transformed with the nucleic acid sequences, expression cassettes or vectors according to the invention, all those constructions brought about by recombinant methods in which either

    (a) the nucleic acid sequences encoding proteins useful in the methods of the invention, or
    (b) genetic control sequence(s) which is operably linked with the nucleic acid sequence according to the invention, for example a promoter, or
    (c) a) and b)

are not located in their natural genetic environment or have been modified by recombinant methods, it being possible for the modification to take the form of, for example, a substitution, addition, deletion, inversion or insertion of one or more nucleotide residues. The natural genetic environment is understood as meaning the natural genomic or chromosomal locus in the original plant or the presence in a genomic library. In the case of a genomic library, the natural genetic environment of the nucleic acid sequence is preferably retained, at least in part. The environment flanks the nucleic acid sequence at least on one side and has a sequence length of at least 50 bp, preferably at least 500 bp, especially preferably at least 1000 bp, most preferably at least 5000 bp. A naturally occurring expression cassette—for example the naturally occurring combination of the natural promoter of the nucleic acid sequences with the corresponding nucleic acid sequence encoding a polypeptide useful in the methods of the present invention, as defined above—becomes a transgenic expression cassette when this expression cassette is modified by non-natural, synthetic (“artificial”) methods such as, for example, mutagenic treatment. Suitable methods are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,565,350 or WO 00/15815.



A transgenic plant for the purposes of the invention is thus understood as meaning, as above, that the nucleic acids used in the method of the invention are not at their natural locus in the genome of said plant, it being possible for the nucleic acids to be expressed homologously or heterologously. However, as mentioned, transgenic also means that, while the nucleic acids according to the invention or used in the inventive method are at their natural position in the genome of a plant, the sequence has been modified with regard to the natural sequence, and/or that the regulatory sequences of the natural sequences have been modified. Transgenic is preferably understood as meaning the expression of the nucleic acids according to the invention at an unnatural locus in the genome, i.e. homologous or, preferably, heterologous expression of the nucleic acids takes place. Preferred transgenic plants are mentioned herein.
Transformation
The term “introduction” or “transformation” as referred to herein encompasses the transfer of an exogenous polynucleotide into a host cell, irrespective of the method used for transfer. Plant tissue capable of subsequent clonal propagation, whether by organogenesis or embryogenesis, may be transformed with a genetic construct of the present invention and a whole plant regenerated there from. The particular tissue chosen will vary depending on the clonal propagation systems available for, and best suited to, the particular species being transformed. Exemplary tissue targets include leaf disks, pollen, embryos, cotyledons, hypocotyls, megagametophytes, callus tissue, existing meristematic tissue (e.g., apical meristem, axillary buds, and root meristems), and induced meristem tissue (e.g., cotyledon meristem and hypocotyl meristem). The polynucleotide may be transiently or stably introduced into a host cell and may be maintained non-integrated, for example, as a plasmid. Alternatively, it may be integrated into the host genome. The resulting transformed plant cell may then be used to regenerate a transformed plant in a manner known to persons skilled in the art.
The transfer of foreign genes into the genome of a plant is called transformation. Transformation of plant species is now a fairly routine technique. Advantageously, any of several transformation methods may be used to introduce the gene of interest into a suitable ancestor cell. The methods described for the transformation and regeneration of plants from plant tissues or plant cells may be utilized for transient or for stable transformation. Transformation methods include the use of liposomes, electroporation, chemicals that increase free DNA uptake, injection of the DNA directly into the plant, particle gun bombardment, transformation using viruses or pollen and microprojection. Methods may be selected from the calcium/polyethylene glycol method for protoplasts (Krens, F. A. et al., (1982) Nature 296, 72-74; Negrutiu I et al. (1987) Plant Mol Biol 8: 363-373); electroporation of protoplasts (Shillito R. D. et al. (1985) Bio/Technol 3, 1099-1102); microinjection into plant material (Crossway A et al., (1986) Mol. Gen Genet 202: 179-185); DNA or RNA-coated particle bombardment (Klein T M et al., (1987) Nature 327: 70) infection with (non-integrative) viruses and the like. Transgenic plants, including transgenic crop plants, are preferably produced via Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. An advantageous transformation method is the transformation in planta. To this end, it is possible, for example, to allow the agrobacteria to act on plant seeds or to inoculate the plant meristem with agrobacteria. It has proved particularly expedient in accordance with the invention to allow a suspension of transformed agrobacteria to act on the intact plant or at least on the flower primordia. The plant is subsequently grown on until the seeds of the treated plant are obtained (Clough and Bent, Plant J. (1998) 16, 735-743). Methods for Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of rice include well known methods for rice transformation, such as those described in any of the following: European patent application EP 1198985 A1, Aldemita and Hodges (Planta 199: 612-617, 1996); Chan et al. (Plant Mol Biol 22 (3): 491-506, 1993), Hiei et al. (Plant J 6 (2): 271-282, 1994), which disclosures are incorporated by reference herein as if fully set forth. In the case of corn transformation, the preferred method is as described in either Ishida et al. (Nat. Biotechnol 14(6): 745-50, 1996) or Frame et al. (Plant Physiol 129(1): 13-22, 2002), which disclosures are incorporated by reference herein as if fully set forth. Said methods are further described by way of example in B. Jenes et al., Techniques for Gene Transfer, in: Transgenic Plants, Vol. 1, Engineering and Utilization, eds. S. D. Kung and R. Wu, Academic Press (1993) 128-143 and in Potrykus Annu. Rev. Plant Physiol. Plant Molec. Biol. 42 (1991) 205-225). The nucleic acids or the construct to be expressed is preferably cloned into a vector, which is suitable for transforming Agrobacterium tumefaciens, for example pBin19 (Bevan et al., Nucl. Acids Res. 12 (1984) 8711). Agrobacteria transformed by such a vector can then be used in known manner for the transformation of plants, such as plants used as a model, like Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana is within the scope of the present invention not considered as a crop plant), or crop plants such as, by way of example, tobacco plants, for example by immersing bruised leaves or chopped leaves in an agrobacterial solution and then culturing them in suitable media. The transformation of plants by means of Agrobacterium tumefaciens is described, for example, by Höfgen and Willmitzer in Nucl. Acid Res. (1988) 16, 9877 or is known inter alia from F. F. White, Vectors for Gene Transfer in Higher Plants; in Transgenic Plants, Vol. 1, Engineering and Utilization, eds. S. D. Kung and R. Wu, Academic Press, 1993, pp. 15-38.
In addition to the transformation of somatic cells, which then have to be regenerated into intact plants, it is also possible to transform the cells of plant meristems and in particular those cells which develop into gametes. In this case, the transformed gametes follow the natural plant development, giving rise to transgenic plants. Thus, for example, seeds of Arabidopsis are treated with Agrobacteria and seeds are obtained from the developing plants of which a certain proportion is transformed and thus transgenic [Feldman, K A and Marks M D (1987). Mol Gen Genet 208:274-289; Feldmann K (1992). In: C Koncz, N-H Chua and J Shell, eds, Methods in Arabidopsis Research. Word Scientific, Singapore, pp. 274-289]. Alternative methods are based on the repeated removal of the inflorescences and incubation of the excision site in the center of the rosette with transformed agrobacteria, whereby transformed seeds can likewise be obtained at a later point in time (Chang (1994). Plant J. 5: 551-558; Katavic (1994). Mol Gen Genet, 245: 363-370). However, an especially effective method is the vacuum infiltration method with its modifications such as the “floral dip” method. In the case of vacuum infiltration of Arabidopsis, intact plants under reduced pressure are treated with an agrobacterial suspension [Bechthold, N (1993). C R Acad Sci Paris Life Sci, 316: 1194-1199], while in the case of the “floral dip” method the developing floral tissue is incubated briefly with a surfactant-treated agrobacterial suspension [Clough, S J and Bent A F (1998) The Plant J. 16, 735-743]. A certain proportion of transgenic seeds are harvested in both cases, and these seeds can be distinguished from non-transgenic seeds by growing under the above-described selective conditions. In addition the stable transformation of plastids is of advantages because plastids are inherited maternally is most crops reducing or eliminating the risk of transgene flow through pollen. The transformation of the chloroplast genome is generally achieved by a process which has been schematically displayed in Klaus et al., 2004 [Nature Biotechnology 22 (2), 225-229]. Briefly the sequences to be transformed are cloned together with a selectable marker gene between flanking sequences homologous to the chloroplast genome. These homologous flanking sequences direct site specific integration into the plastome. Plastidal transformation has been described for many different plant species and an overview is given in Bock (2001) Transgenic plastids in basic research and plant biotechnology. J Mol Biol. 2001 Sep. 21; 312 (3):425-38 or Maliga, P (2003) Progress towards commercialization of plastid transformation technology. Trends Biotechnol. 21, 20-28. Further biotechnological progress has recently been reported in form of marker free plastid transformants, which can be produced by a transient co-integrated maker gene (Klaus et al., 2004, Nature Biotechnology 22(2), 225-229).
T-DNA Activation Tagging
T-DNA activation tagging (Hayashi et al. Science (1992) 1350-1353), involves insertion of T-DNA, usually containing a promoter (may also be a translation enhancer or an intron), in the genomic region of the gene of interest or 10 kb up- or downstream of the coding region of a gene in a configuration such that the promoter directs expression of the targeted gene. Typically, regulation of expression of the targeted gene by its natural promoter is disrupted and the gene falls under the control of the newly introduced promoter. The promoter is typically embedded in a T-DNA. This T-DNA is randomly inserted into the plant genome, for example, through Agrobacterium infection and leads to modified expression of genes near the inserted T-DNA. The resulting transgenic plants show dominant phenotypes due to modified expression of genes close to the introduced promoter.
TILLING
The term “TILLING” is an abbreviation of “Targeted Induced Local Lesions In Genomes” and refers to a mutagenesis technology useful to generate and/or identify nucleic acids encoding proteins with modified expression and/or activity. TILLING also allows selection of plants carrying such mutant variants. These mutant variants may exhibit modified expression, either in strength or in location or in timing (if the mutations affect the promoter for example). These mutant variants may exhibit higher activity than that exhibited by the gene in its natural form. TILLING combines high-density mutagenesis with high-throughput screening methods. The steps typically followed in TILLING are: (a) EMS mutagenesis (Redei G P and Koncz C (1992) In Methods in Arabidopsis Research, Koncz C, Chua N H, Schell J, eds. Singapore, World Scientific Publishing Co, pp. 16-82; Feldmann et al., (1994) In Meyerowitz E M, Somerville C R, eds, Arabidopsis. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., pp 137-172; Lightner J and Caspar T (1998) In J Martinez-Zapater, J Salinas, eds, Methods on Molecular Biology, Vol. 82. Humana Press, Totowa, N.J., pp 91-104); (b) DNA preparation and pooling of individuals; (c) PCR amplification of a region of interest; (d) denaturation and annealing to allow formation of heteroduplexes; (e) DHPLC, where the presence of a heteroduplex in a pool is detected as an extra peak in the chromatogram; (f) identification of the mutant individual; and (g) sequencing of the mutant PCR product. Methods for TILLING are well known in the art (McCallum et al., (2000) Nat Biotechnol 18: 455-457; reviewed by Stemple (2004) Nat Rev Genet 5(2): 145-50).
Homologous Recombination
Homologous recombination allows introduction in a genome of a selected nucleic acid at a defined selected position. Homologous recombination is a standard technology used routinely in biological sciences for lower organisms such as yeast or the moss Physcomitrella. Methods for performing homologous recombination in plants have been described not only for model plants (Offringa et al. (1990) EMBO J 9(10): 3077-84) but also for crop plants, for example rice (Terada et al. (2002) Nat Biotech 20(10): 1030-4; lida and Terada (2004) Curr Opin Biotech 15(2): 132-8), and approaches exist that are generally applicable regardless of the target organism (Miller et al, Nature Biotechnol. 25, 778-785, 2007).
Increase/Improve/Enhance
The terms “increase”, “improve” or “enhance” are interchangeable and shall mean in the sense of the application at least a 3%, 4%, 5%, 6%, 7%, 8%, 9% or 10%, preferably at least 15% or 20%, more preferably 25%, 30%, 35% or 40% more of the factor in question in comparison to any control.
Plant
The term “plant” as used herein encompasses whole plants, ancestors and progeny of the plants and plant parts, including seeds, shoots, stems, leaves, roots (including tubers), flowers, and tissues and organs, wherein each of the aforementioned comprise the gene/nucleic acid of interest. The term “plant” also encompasses plant cells, suspension cultures, callus tissue, embryos, meristematic regions, gametophytes, sporophytes, pollen and microspores, again wherein each of the aforementioned comprises the gene/nucleic acid of interest.
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 including fodder or forage legumes, ornamental plants, food crops, trees or shrubs selected from the list comprising Acer spp., Actinidia spp., Abelmoschus spp., Agave sisalana, Agropyron spp., Agrostis stolonifera, Allium spp., Amaranthus spp., Ammophila arenaria, Ananas comosus, Annona spp., Apium graveolens, Arachis spp, Artocarpus spp., Asparagus officinalis, Avena spp. (e.g. Avena sativa, Avena fatua, Avena byzantina, Avena fatua var. sativa, Avena hybrida), Averrhoa carambola, Bambusa sp., Benincasa hispida, Bertholletia excelsea, Beta vulgaris, Brassica spp. (e.g. Brassica napus, Brassica rapa ssp. [canola, oilseed rape, turnip rape]), Cadaba farinosa, Camellia sinensis, Canna indica, Cannabis sativa, Capsicum spp., Carex elata, Carica papaya, Carissa macrocarpa, Carya spp., Carthamus tinctorius, Castanea spp., Ceiba pentandra, Cichorium endivia, Cinnamomum spp., Citrullus lanatus, Citrus spp., Cocos spp., Coffea spp., Colocasia esculenta, Cola spp., Corchorus sp., Coriandrum sativum, Corylus spp., Crataegus spp., Crocus sativus, Cucurbita spp., Cucumis spp., Cynara spp., Daucus carota, Desmodium spp., Dimocarpus longan, Dioscorea spp., Diospyros spp., Echinochloa spp., Elaeis (e.g. Elaeis guineensis, Elaeis oleifera), Eleusine coracana, Erianthus sp., Eriobotrya japonica, Eucalyptus sp., Eugenia uniflora, Fagopyrum spp., Fagus spp., Festuca arundinacea, Ficus carica, Fortunella spp., Fragaria spp., Ginkgo biloba, Glycine spp. (e.g. Glycine max, Soja hispida or Soja max), Gossypium hirsutum, Helianthus spp. (e.g. Helianthus annuus), Hemerocallis fulva, Hibiscus spp., Hordeum spp. (e.g. Hordeum vulgare), Ipomoea batatas, Juglans spp., Lactuca sativa, Lathyrus spp., Lens culinaris, Linum usitatissimum, Litchi chinensis, Lotus spp., Luffa acutangula, Lupinus spp., Luzula sylvatica, Lycopersicon spp. (e.g. Lycopersicon esculentum, Lycopersicon lycopersicum, Lycopersicon pyriforme), Macrotyloma spp., Malus spp., Malpighia emarginata, Mammea americana, Mangifera indica, Manihot spp., Manilkara zapota, Medicago sativa, Melilotus spp., Mentha spp., Miscanthus sinensis, Momordica spp., Morus nigra, Musa spp., Nicotiana spp., Olea spp., Opuntia spp., Ornithopus spp., Oryza spp. (e.g. Oryza sativa, Oryza latifolia), Panicum miliaceum, Panicum virgatum, Passiflora edulis, Pastinaca sativa, Pennisetum sp., Persea spp., Petroselinum crispum, Phalaris arundinacea, Phaseolus spp., Phleum pratense, Phoenix spp., Phragmites australis, Physalis spp., Pinus spp., Pistacia vera, Pisum spp., Poa spp., Populus spp., Prosopis spp., Prunus spp., Psidium spp., Punica granatum, Pyrus communis, Quercus spp., Raphanus sativus, Rheum rhabarbarum, Ribes spp., Ricinus communis, Rubus spp., Saccharum spp., Salix sp., Sambucus spp., Secale cereale, Sesamum spp., Sinapis sp., Solanum spp. (e.g. Solanum tuberosum, Solanum integrifolium or Solanum lycopersicum), Sorghum bicolor, Spinacia spp., Syzygium spp., Tagetes spp., Tamarindus indica, Theobroma cacao, Trifolium spp., Triticosecale rimpaui, Triticum spp. (e.g. Triticum aestivum, Triticum durum, Triticum turgidum, Triticum hybernum, Triticum macha, Triticum sativum or Triticum vulgare), Tropaeolum minus, Tropaeolum majus, Vaccinium spp., Vicia spp., Vigna spp., Viola odorata, Vitis spp., Zea mays, Zizania palustris, Ziziphus spp., amongst others.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Surprisingly, it has now been found that modulating expression in a plant of a nucleic acid encoding a UBP15 polypeptide or a homologue thereof gives plants having altered growth and/or development relative to control plants. According to a first embodiment, the present invention provides a method for altering plant growth and/or development relative to control plants, comprising modulating expression in a plant of a nucleic acid encoding a UBP15 polypeptide or a homologue thereof.
A preferred method for modulating (preferably, increasing) expression of a nucleic acid encoding a UBP15 polypeptide or a homologue thereof is by introducing and expressing in a plant a nucleic acid encoding a UBP15 polypeptide or a homologue thereof.
Any reference hereinafter to a “protein useful in the methods of the invention” is taken to mean a UBP polypeptide of the UBP15 subfamily or a homologue thereof as defined herein. Any reference hereinafter to a “nucleic acid useful in the methods of the invention” is taken to mean a nucleic acid capable of encoding such a UBP polypeptide. The nucleic acid to be introduced into a plant (and therefore useful in performing the methods of the invention) is any nucleic acid encoding the type of protein which will now be described, hereinafter also referred to as “UBP15 nucleic acid” or “UBP15 gene”.
A “UBP15 polypeptide” as defined herein refers to any polypeptide comprising each of the following:

    
    
        (i) a Cysteine box (Cys box); and
        (ii) a Histidine box (His box); and
        (iii) a ZnMYND zinc finger domain.
    
    


The Cys and His box are two well conserved motifs found in a conserved catalytic domain called the UBP domain (see FIG. 1). The Cys box and the His box comprise the catalytic triad residues (Cys in Cys box, His and Asp/Asn in His box) (Amerik and Hochstrasser, 2004). The length of UBP domains vary from 300 to 900 amino acids in length, and despite sometimes having low overall sequence conservation, they typically display a conserved three dimensional structure. Within the UBP domains, the Cysteine in Cys box plays an essential role in catalytic activity and specific mutation in the Cysteine can abolish the de-ubiquitination activity of UBPs (Papa and Hochstrasser, 1993; Chandler et al., 1997; Rao-Naik et al., 2000; Yan et al., 2000; Baek et al., 2001; Doelling et al., 2001; Hanna et al., 2006).
The UBP15 subfamily includes UBP15, UBP16, UBP17, UBP18 and UBP19. Members of this subfamily and homologues thereof comprise a signature MYND type Zinc finger domain, which was reported to be a protein-protein interaction domain in mammals (Gross and McGinnis, 1996; Lutterbach et al., 1998a; Lutterbach et al., 1998b; Masselink and Bernards, 2000).
A genetic interaction analysis among members of the UBP15 subfamily revealed that UBP15 and UBP16, but not UBP17, have functional redundancy, even though UBP16 and UBP17 are equally related to UBP15. Mutation of another subfamily member, UBP19, leads to embryo lethality, while loss-of-function of its closest related member, UBP18, exhibits no visible defect.
UBP sequences useful in performing the methods of the invention may also be identified by including a query sequence in a UBP phylogenetic tree, such as the one depicted in FIG. 1. UBP15 polypeptides or homologues thereof will cluster with the UPB15 subfamily rather than with any other subfamily.
Furthermore, UBP15 polypeptides and homologues thereof typically have UBP activity In vitro.
UBP15 polypeptides or homologues thereof useful in the methods of the invention typically have in increasing order of preference at least 50%, 51%, 52%, 53%, 54%, 55%, 56%, 57%, 58%, 59%, 60%, 61%, 62%, 63%, 64%, 65%, 66%, 67%, 68%, 69%, 70%, 71%, 72%, 73%, 74%, 75%, 76%, 77%, 78%, 79%, 80%, 81%, 82%, 83%, 84%, 85%, 86%, 87%, 88%, 89%, 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, or 99% overall sequence identity to any one of UBP15 (SEQ ID NO: 2), UBP16 (SEQ ID NO: 4), UBP17 (SEQ ID NO: 6), UBP18 (SEQ ID NO: 8) or UBP19 (SEQ ID NO: 10) from Arabidopsis thaliana. The overall sequence identity may be determined using a global alignment algorithm, such as the Needleman Wunsch algorithm in the program GAP (GCG Wisconsin Package, Accelrys), preferably with default parameters. Compared to overall sequence identity, the sequence identity will generally be higher when only conserved domains or motifs are considered.
The term “domain” and “motif” is defined in the “definitions” section herein. Specialist databases exist for the identification of domains, for example, SMART (Schultz et al. (1998) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95, 5857-5864; Letunic et al. (2002) Nucleic Acids Res 30, 242-244), InterPro (Mulder et al., (2003) Nucl. Acids. Res. 31, 315-318), Prosite (Bucher and Bairoch (1994), A generalized profile syntax for biomolecular sequences motifs and its function in automatic sequence interpretation. (In) ISMB-94; Proceedings 2nd International Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology. Altman R., Brutlag D., Karp P., Lathrop R., Searls D., Eds., pp 53-61, AAAI Press, Menlo Park; Hulo et al., Nucl. Acids. Res. 32:D134-D137, (2004)), or Pfam (Bateman et al., Nucleic Acids Research 30(1): 276-280 (2002)). A set of tools for in silico analysis of protein sequences is available on the ExPASy proteomics server (Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (Gasteiger et al., ExPASy: the proteomics server for in-depth protein knowledge and analysis, Nucleic Acids Res. 31:3784-3788(2003)). Domains or motifs may also be identified using routine techniques, such as by sequence alignment.
Methods for the alignment of sequences for comparison are well known in the art, such methods include GAP, BESTFIT, BLAST, FASTA and TFASTA. GAP uses the algorithm of Needleman and Wunsch ((1970) J Mol Biol 48: 443-453) to find the global (i.e. spanning the complete sequences) alignment of two sequences that maximizes the number of matches and minimizes the number of gaps. The BLAST algorithm (Altschul et al. (1990) J Mol Biol 215: 403-10) calculates percent sequence identity and performs a statistical analysis of the similarity between the two sequences. The software for performing BLAST analysis is publicly available through the National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). Homologues may readily be identified using, for example, the ClustalW multiple sequence alignment algorithm (version 1.83), with the default pairwise alignment parameters, and a scoring method in percentage. Global percentages of similarity and identity may also be determined using one of the methods available in the MatGAT software package (Campanella et al., BMC Bioinformatics. 2003 Jul. 10;4:29. MatGAT: an application that generates similarity/identity matrices using protein or DNA sequences.). Minor manual editing may be performed to optimise alignment between conserved motifs, as would be apparent to a person skilled in the art. Furthermore, instead of using full-length sequences for the identification of homologues, specific domains may also be used. The sequence identity values may be determined over the entire nucleic acid or amino acid sequence or over selected domains or conserved motif(s), using the programs mentioned above using the default parameters. For local alignments, the Smith-Waterman algorithm is particularly useful (Smith T F, Waterman M S (1981) J. Mol. Biol 147(1); 195-7).
Examples of nucleic acids encoding members of the UBP15 subfamily are represented by SEQ ID NOs 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 39 and 44. Such nucleic acids are useful in performing the methods of the invention. The nucleotide sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 11 encodes the polypeptide sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 12, a UBP from rice (Nipponbare strain) that is closely related to AtUBP15, and has 53% identity to AtUBP15 on a nucleotide level, 40% identity on a protein level and 54% similarity on a protein level. The nucleotide sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 13 encodes the polypeptide sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 14, a UBP from rice (Nipponbare strain) that is closely related to AtUBP16, and has 44% identity to AtUBP16 on a nucleotide level, 30% identity on a protein level and 44% similarity on a protein level to AtUBP16. The nucleotide sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 15 encodes the polypeptide sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 16, a UBP from rice (Nipponbare strain) that is closely related to AtUBP17, and has 40% identity to AtUBP17 on a nucleotide level, 33% identity on a protein level and 45% similarity on a protein level to AtUBP17. The nucleotide sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 17 encodes the polypeptide sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 18, a UBP from rice (Nipponbare strain) that is closely related to AtUBP18, and has 34% identity to AtUBP17 on a nucleotide level, 30% identity on a protein level and 39% similarity on a protein level to AtUBP18. SEQ ID NO: 19 is a nucleotide sequence from maize (Zea mays) showing some similarity to SEQ ID NO: 11. SEQ ID NO: 19 is the longest cDNA sequence of maize obtained by assembling the ESTs of SEQ ID NOs 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 and 38. SEQ ID NO: 39 is another nucleotide sequence from maize showing some similarity to SEQ ID NO: 11. SEQ ID NO: 39 was assembled from the ESTs of SEQ ID NOs 40, 41, 42 and 43. SEQ ID NO: 44 is another nucleotide sequence from maize showing some similarity to SEQ ID NO: 11. SEQ ID NO: 44 was assembled from the ESTs of SEQ ID NOs 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50 and 51.
SEQ ID NOs 12, 14, 16 and 18 are examples of orthologues of the UBP polypeptides represented by SEQ ID NOs: 2, 4, 6 and 8, respectively. The terms “orthologues” and “paralogues” are as defined herein. Further orthologues and paralogues may readily be identified by performing a so-called reciprocal blast search. Typically, this involves a first BLAST involving BLASTing a query sequence (for example using any of sequences SEQ ID NOs 2, 4, 6, 8 or 10) against any sequence database, such as the publicly available NCBI database. BLASTN or TBLASTX (using standard default values) are generally used when starting from a nucleotide sequence, and BLASTP or TBLASTN (using standard default values) when starting from a protein sequence. The BLAST results may optionally be filtered. The full-length sequences of either the filtered results or non-filtered results are then BLASTed back (second BLAST) against sequences from the organism from which the query sequence is derived (where the query sequence is SEQ ID NO: 1 to SEQ ID NO: 10, the second BLAST would therefore be against Arabidopsis sequences). The results of the first and second BLASTs are then compared. A paralogue is identified if a high-ranking hit from the first blast is from the same species as from which the query sequence is derived, a BLAST back then ideally results in the query sequence being amongst the highest hits; an orthologue is identified if a high-ranking hit in the first BLAST is not from the same species as from which the query sequence is derived, and preferably results upon BLAST back in the query sequence being among the highest hits.
High-ranking hits are those having a low E-value. The lower the E-value, the more significant the score (or in other words the lower the chance that the hit was found by chance). Computation of the E-value is well known in the art. In addition to E-values, comparisons are also scored by percentage identity. Percentage identity refers to the number of identical nucleotides (or amino acids) between the two compared nucleic acid (or polypeptide) sequences over a particular length. In the case of large families, ClustalW may be used, followed by a neighbour joining tree, to help visualize clustering of related genes and to identify orthologues and paralogues.
Nucleic acid variants may also be useful in practising the methods of the invention. Examples of such variants include nucleic acids encoding homologues and derivatives of any one of the amino acid sequences represented by SEQ ID NOs 2, 4, 6, 8 or 10, the terms “homologue” and “derivative” being as defined herein. Also useful in the methods of the invention are nucleic acids encoding homologues and derivatives of orthologues or paralogues of any one of the amino acid sequences represented by SEQ ID NOs 2, 4, 6, 8 or 10. Homologues and derivatives useful in the methods of the present invention have substantially the same biological and functional activity as the unmodified protein from which they are derived.
Further nucleic acid variants useful in practising the methods of the invention include portions of nucleic acids encoding UBP15 polypeptides or homologues thereof, nucleic acids hybridising to nucleic acids encoding UBP15 polypeptides or homologues thereof, splice variants of nucleic acids encoding UBP15 polypeptides or homologues thereof, allelic variants of nucleic acids encoding UBP15 polypeptides or homologues thereof and variants of nucleic acids encoding UBP15 polypeptides obtained by gene shuffling. The terms hybridising sequence, splice variant, allelic variant and gene shuffling are as described herein.
Nucleic acids encoding UBP15 polypeptides or homologues thereof need not be full-length nucleic acids, since performance of the methods of the invention does not rely on the use of full-length nucleic acid sequences. According to the present invention, there is provided a method for altering plant growth and development, comprising introducing and expressing in a plant a portion of any one of the nucleic acid sequences represented by SEQ ID NOs 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 39 or 44, or a portion of a nucleic acid encoding an orthologue, paralogue or homologue of any of the amino acid sequences represented by SEQ ID NOs 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 or 18.
A portion of a nucleic acid may be prepared, for example, by making one or more deletions to the nucleic acid. The portions may be used in isolated form or they may be fused to other coding (or non-coding) sequences in order to, for example, produce a protein that combines several activities. When fused to other coding sequences, the resultant polypeptide produced upon translation may be bigger than that predicted for the protein portion.
Portions useful in the methods of the invention, encode a UBP15 polypeptide or a homologue thereof as defined herein, and have substantially the same biological activity as the amino acid sequences represented by any of SEQ ID NOs 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 or 18. Preferably, the portion is a portion of any one of the nucleic acids given in represented by SEQ ID NOs 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 39 or 44, or is a portion of a nucleic acid encoding an orthologue or paralogue of any one of the amino acid sequences represented by SEQ ID NOs 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 or 18. Preferably the portion is at least 1000, 1050, 1100, 1150, 1200, 1250, 1300, 1350, 1400, 1450, 1500, 1550, 1600, 1650, 1700, 1750, 1800, 1850, 1900, 1950, 2000, 2050, 2100, 2150, 1200, 2250, 2300, 2350, 2400, 2450, 2500, 2550, 2600, 2650, 2700, 2750, 2800, 2850, 2900, 2950, 3000, 3050, 3100, 3150 or more consecutive nucleotides in length, the consecutive nucleotides being of any one of the nucleic acid sequences represented by SEQ ID NOs 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 39 or 44, or of a nucleic acid encoding an orthologue or paralogue of any one of the amino acid sequences represented by SEQ ID NOs 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 or 18. Most preferably the portion is a portion of the nucleic acid of any one of SEQ ID NOs 1, 3, 5, 7 or 9. Preferably, the portion encodes a fragment of an amino acid sequence which, when used in the construction of a UBP phylogenetic tree, such as the one depicted in FIG. 1, clusters with the UBP15 subfamily of proteins rather than with any other subfamily of UBPs.
Another nucleic acid variant useful in the methods of the invention is a nucleic acid capable of hybridising, under reduced stringency conditions, preferably under stringent conditions, with a nucleic acid encoding a UBP15 polypeptide or a homologue thereof as defined herein, or with a portion as defined herein.
According to the present invention, there is provided a method for altering plant growth and/or development, comprising introducing and expressing in a plant a nucleic acid capable of hybridizing to any one of the nucleic acids represented by SEQ ID NOs 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 39 or 44, or comprising introducing and expressing in a plant a nucleic acid capable of hybridising to a nucleic acid encoding an orthologue, paralogue or homologue of any of the nucleic acid sequences represented by SEQ ID NOs 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 or, 18.
Hybridising sequences useful in the methods of the invention encode a UBP15 polypeptide as defined herein, having substantially the same biological activity as the amino acid sequences represented by any one of SEQ ID NOs 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 or 18. Preferably, the hybridising sequence is capable of hybridising to any one of the nucleic acids represented by SEQ ID NOs 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 39 or 44, or to a portion of any of these sequences, a portion being as defined above, or the hybridising sequence is capable of hybridising to a nucleic acid encoding an orthologue or paralogue of any one of the amino acid sequences represented by SEQ ID NOs 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 or 18. Most preferably, the hybridising sequence is capable of hybridising to a nucleic acid as represented by SEQ ID NOs 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 or 17 or to a portion thereof.
Preferably, the hybridising sequence encodes a polypeptide with an amino acid sequence which, when full-length and used in the construction of a UBP phylogenetic tree, such as the one depicted in FIG. 1, clusters with the subfamily of UBP15 polypeptides rather than with any other UBP subfamily.
Another nucleic acid variant useful in the methods of the invention is a splice variant encoding a UBP15 polypeptide or a homologue thereof as defined hereinabove, a splice variant being as defined herein.
According to the present invention, there is provided a method for altering plant growth and/or development, comprising introducing and expressing in a plant a splice variant of any one of the nucleic acid sequences represented by SEQ ID NOs 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 39 or 44, or a splice variant of a nucleic acid encoding an orthologue, paralogue or homologue of any of the amino acid sequences represented by SEQ ID NOs 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 or 18.
Preferred splice variants are splice variants of a nucleic acid represented by any one of SEQ ID NOs 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 or 17, or a splice variant of a nucleic acid encoding an orthologue or paralogue of SEQ ID NO: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 or 18. Preferably, the amino acid sequence encoded by the splice variant, when used in the construction of a UBP phylogenetic tree, such as the one depicted in FIG. 1, clusters with the subfamily of UBP15 polypeptides rather than with any other UBP subfamily.
Another nucleic acid variant useful in performing the methods of the invention is an allelic variant of a nucleic acid encoding a UBP15 polypeptide or a homologue thereof as defined hereinabove, an allelic variant being as defined herein.
According to the present invention, there is provided a method for altering plant growth and/or development, comprising introducing and expressing in a plant an allelic variant of any one of the nucleic acids represented by SEQ ID NOs 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 39 or 44, or comprising introducing and expressing in a plant an allelic variant of a nucleic acid encoding an orthologue, paralogue or homologue of any of the amino acid sequences represented by SEQ ID NOs 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 or 18.
The allelic variants useful in the methods of the present invention have substantially the same biological activity as any one of the UBP15 subfamily polypeptides represented by SEQ ID NO: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 or 18. Allelic variants exist in nature, and encompassed within the methods of the present invention is the use of these natural alleles. Preferably, the allelic variant is an allelic variant of any one of SEQ ID NOs 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 39 or 44, or an allelic variant of a nucleic acid encoding an orthologue or paralogue of SEQ ID NO: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 or 18. Preferably, the amino acid sequence encoded by the allelic variant, when used in the construction of a UBP phylogenetic tree, such as the one depicted in FIG. 1, clusters with the UBP15 subfamily rather than with any other UBP subfamily.
Gene shuffling or directed evolution may also be used to generate variants of nucleic acids encoding UBP15 polypeptides or homologues thereof as defined above; the term “gene shuffling” being as defined herein.
According to the present invention, there is provided a method for altering plant growth and/or development in plants, comprising introducing and expressing in a plant a variant of any one of the nucleic acid sequences represented by any one of SEQ ID NOs 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 39 or 44, or comprising introducing and expressing in a plant a variant of a nucleic acid encoding an orthologue, paralogue or homologue of any of the amino acid sequences represented by any one of SEQ ID NOs 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 or 18, which variant nucleic acid is obtained by gene shuffling.
Preferably, the amino acid sequence encoded by the variant nucleic acid obtained by gene shuffling, when used in the construction of a UBP phylogenetic tree such as the one depicted in FIG. 1, clusters with the subfamily of UBP15 polypeptides rather than with any other UBP subfamily.
Furthermore, nucleic acid variants may also be obtained by site-directed mutagenesis. Several methods are available to achieve site-directed mutagenesis, the most common being PCR based methods (Current Protocols in Molecular Biology. Wiley Eds.).
Nucleic acids encoding UBP15 polypeptides may be derived from any natural or artificial source. The nucleic acid may be modified from its native form in composition and/or genomic environment through deliberate human manipulation. Preferably the UBP polypeptide-encoding nucleic acid is from a plant, further preferably from a dicotyledonous plant, more preferably from the family Brassicaceae, most preferably the nucleic acid is from Arabidopsis thaliana. 
Performance of the methods of the invention gives plants having altered plant growth and/or development.
The altered development may be in any part of a plant, in any cell, tissue or organ, particularly in the leaves. The altered development may be altered reproductive development. The altered development may cause altered plant phenotypes, such as altered leaf shape (particularly narrower and/or serrated and/or flat leaves); and altered phenotypes (such as altered flowering and/or changes in apical dominance and/or altered fertility). The altered development or phenotype may be caused by a change in cell proliferation.
The present invention encompasses plants or parts thereof (including seeds) obtainable by the methods according to the present invention. The plants or parts thereof comprise a nucleic acid transgene encoding a UBP15 polypeptide or a homologue thereof as defined above.
The invention also provides genetic constructs and vectors to facilitate introduction and/or expression in plants of nucleic acids encoding UBP15 polypeptides or homologues thereof. The gene constructs may be inserted into vectors, which may be commercially available, suitable for transforming into plants and suitable for expression of the gene of interest in the transformed cells. The invention also provides use of a gene construct as defined herein in the methods of the invention.
More specifically, the present invention provides a construct comprising:

    (a) a nucleic acid encoding a polypeptide that is a member of the UBP15 subfamily or a homologue thereof as defined above;
    (b) one or more control sequences capable of driving expression of the nucleic acid sequence of (a); and optionally
    (c) a transcription termination sequence.


Preferably, the nucleic acid encoding the UBP15 polypeptide or a homologue thereof is as defined above. The term “control sequence” and “termination sequence” are as defined herein.
Plants are transformed with a vector comprising any of the nucleic acids described above. The skilled artisan is well aware of the genetic elements that must be present on the vector in order to successfully transform, select and propagate host cells containing the sequence of interest. The sequence of interest is operably linked to one or more control sequences (at least to a promoter).
Advantageously, any type of promoter, whether natural or synthetic, may be used to drive expression of the nucleic acid sequence. A constitutive promoter is particularly useful in the methods. Preferably the constitutive promoter is also a ubiquitous promoter. See the “Definitions” section herein for definitions of the various promoter types.
The constitutive promoter is preferably a CaMV35S promoter. Further preferably, the constitutive promoter is represented by a nucleic acid sequence substantially similar to SEQ ID NO: 52, most preferably the constitutive promoter is as represented by SEQ ID NO: 52. See Table B in the “Definitions” section herein for further examples of constitutive promoters.
Optionally, one or more terminator sequences may be used in the construct introduced into a plant. Additional regulatory elements may include transcriptional as well as translational enhancers. Those skilled in the art will be aware of terminator and enhancer sequences that may be suitable for use in performing the invention. An intron sequence may also be added to the 5′ untranslated region (UTR) or in the coding sequence to increase the amount of the mature message that accumulates in the cytosol, as described in the definitions section. Other control sequences (besides promoter, enhancer, silencer, intron sequences, 3′UTR and/or 5′UTR regions) may be protein and/or RNA stabilizing elements. Such sequences would be known or may readily be obtained by a person skilled in the art.
The genetic constructs of the invention may further include an origin of replication sequence that is required for maintenance and/or replication in a specific cell type. One example is when a genetic construct is required to be maintained in a bacterial cell as an episomal genetic element (e.g. plasmid or cosmid molecule). Preferred origins of replication include, but are not limited to, the f1-ori and colE1.
For the detection of the successful transfer of the nucleic acid sequences as used in the methods of the invention and/or selection of transgenic plants comprising these nucleic acids, it is advantageous to use marker genes (or reporter genes). Therefore, the genetic construct may optionally comprise a selectable marker gene. Selectable markers are described in more detail in the “definitions” section herein. The marker genes may be removed or excised from the transgenic cell once they are no longer needed. Techniques for marker removal are known in the art, useful techniques are described above in the definitions section.
The invention also provides a method for the production of transgenic plants having altered growth and/or development relative to control plants, comprising introduction and expression in a plant of any nucleic acid encoding a UBP15 polypeptide or a homologue thereof as defined hereinabove.
More specifically, the present invention provides a method for the production of transgenic plants having altered growth and/or development, which method comprises:

    (i) introducing and expressing in a plant or plant cell a UBP15 polypeptide-encoding nucleic acid; and
    (ii) cultivating the plant cell under conditions promoting plant growth and development.


The nucleic acid of (i) may be any of the nucleic acids capable of encoding a UBP15 polypeptide or a homologue thereof as defined herein.
The nucleic acid may be introduced directly into a plant cell or into the plant itself (including introduction into a tissue, organ or any other part of a plant). According to a preferred feature of the present invention, the nucleic acid is preferably introduced into a plant by transformation. The term “transformation” is described in more detail in the “definitions” section herein.
The genetically modified plant cells can be regenerated via all methods with which the skilled worker is familiar. Suitable methods can be found in the abovementioned publications by S. D. Kung and R. Wu, Potrykus or Hofgen and Willmitzer.
Generally after transformation, plant cells or cell groupings are selected for the presence of one or more markers which are encoded by plant-expressible genes co-transferred with the gene of interest, following which the transformed material is regenerated into a whole plant. To select transformed plants, the plant material obtained in the transformation is, as a rule, subjected to selective conditions so that transformed plants can be distinguished from untransformed plants. For example, the seeds obtained in the above-described manner can be planted and, after an initial growing period, subjected to a suitable selection by spraying. A further possibility consists in growing the seeds, if appropriate after sterilization, on agar plates using a suitable selection agent so that only the transformed seeds can grow into plants. Alternatively, the transformed plants are screened for the presence of a selectable marker such as the ones described above.
Following DNA transfer and regeneration, putatively transformed plants may also be evaluated, for instance using Southern analysis, for the presence of the gene of interest, copy number and/or genomic organisation. Alternatively or additionally, expression levels of the newly introduced DNA may be monitored using Northern and/or Western analysis, both techniques being well known to persons having ordinary skill in the art.
The generated transformed plants may be propagated by a variety of means, such as by clonal propagation or classical breeding techniques. For example, a first generation (or T1) transformed plant may be selfed and homozygous second-generation (or T2) transformants selected, and the T2 plants may then further be propagated through classical breeding techniques. The generated transformed organisms may take a variety of forms. For example, they may be chimeras of transformed cells and non-transformed cells; clonal transformants (e.g., all cells transformed to contain the expression cassette); grafts of transformed and untransformed tissues (e.g., in plants, a transformed rootstock grafted to an untransformed scion).
The present invention clearly extends to any plant cell or plant produced by any of the methods described herein, and to all plant parts and propagules thereof. The present invention extends further to encompass the progeny of a primary transformed or transfected cell, tissue, organ or whole plant that has been produced by any of the aforementioned methods, the only requirement being that progeny exhibit the same genotypic and/or phenotypic characteristic(s) as those produced by the parent in the methods according to the invention.
The invention also includes host cells containing an isolated nucleic acid encoding a UBP15 polypeptide or a homologue thereof as defined hereinabove. Preferred host cells according to the invention are plant cells. Host plants for the nucleic acids or the vector used in the method according to the invention, the expression cassette or construct or vector are, in principle, advantageously all plants, which are capable of synthesizing the polypeptides used in the inventive method.
The methods of the invention are advantageously applicable to any plant. 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 including fodder or forage legumes, ornamental plants, food crops, trees or shrubs. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the plant is a crop plant. Examples of crop plants include soybean, sunflower, canola, alfalfa, rapeseed, cotton, tomato, potato and tobacco. Further preferably, the plant is a monocotyledonous plant. Examples of monocotyledonous plants include sugarcane. More preferably the plant is a cereal. Examples of cereals include rice, maize, wheat, barley, millet, rye, triticale, sorghum and oats.
The invention also extends to harvestable parts of a plant such as, but not limited to seeds, leaves, fruits, flowers, stems, roots, rhizomes, tubers and bulbs. The invention furthermore relates to products derived, preferably directly derived, from a harvestable part of such a plant, such as dry pellets or powders, oil, fat and fatty acids, starch or proteins.
According to a preferred feature of the invention, the modulated expression is increased expression. Methods for increasing expression of nucleic acids or genes, or gene products, are well documented in the art and examples are provided in the definitions section.
As mentioned above, a preferred method for modulating expression of a nucleic acid encoding a UBP15 polypeptide or a homologue thereof is by introducing and expressing in a plant a nucleic acid encoding a UBP15 polypeptide or a homologue thereof; however the effects of performing the method, i.e. altered plant growth and/or development may also be achieved using other well known techniques, including but not limited to T-DNA activation tagging, TILLING, homologous recombination. A description of these techniques is provided in the definitions section.
The present invention also encompasses use of nucleic acids encoding UBP15 polypeptides or homologues thereof as described herein and use of these UBP15 polypeptides in altering growth and/or development in plants.
Nucleic acids encoding UBP15 polypeptide described herein, or the UBP15 polypeptides themselves, may find use in breeding programmes in which a DNA marker is identified which may be genetically linked to a UBP15 polypeptide-encoding gene. The nucleic acids/genes, or the UBP15 polypeptides themselves may be used to define a molecular marker. This DNA or protein marker may then be used in breeding programmes to select plants having altered growth and/or development as defined hereinabove in the methods of the invention.
Allelic variants of a UBP15 polypeptide-encoding nucleic acid/gene may also find use in marker-assisted breeding programmes. Such breeding programmes sometimes require introduction of allelic variation by mutagenic treatment of the plants, using for example EMS mutagenesis; alternatively, the programme may start with a collection of allelic variants of so called “natural” origin caused unintentionally. Identification of allelic variants then takes place, for example, by PCR. This is followed by a step for selection of superior allelic variants of the sequence in question and which give altered growth and/or development. Selection is typically carried out by monitoring growth performance of plants containing different allelic variants of the sequence in question. Growth performance may be monitored in a greenhouse or in the field. Further optional steps include crossing plants in which the superior allelic variant was identified with another plant. This could be used, for example, to make a combination of interesting phenotypic features.
Nucleic acids encoding UBP15 polypeptides or homologues thereof may also be used as probes for genetically and physically mapping the genes that they are a part of, and as markers for traits linked to those genes. Such information may be useful in plant breeding in order to develop lines with desired phenotypes. Such use of UBP15 polypeptide-encoding nucleic acids requires only a nucleic acid sequence of at least 15 nucleotides in length. The UBP15 polypeptide-encoding nucleic acids may be used as restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) markers. Southern blots (Sambrook J, Fritsch E F and Maniatis T (1989) Molecular Cloning, A Laboratory Manual) of restriction-digested plant genomic DNA may be probed with the UBP15-encoding nucleic acids. The resulting banding patterns may then be subjected to genetic analyses using computer programs such as MapMaker (Lander et al. (1987) Genomics 1: 174-181) in order to construct a genetic map. In addition, the nucleic acids may be used to probe Southern blots containing restriction endonuclease-treated genomic DNAs of a set of individuals representing parent and progeny of a defined genetic cross. Segregation of the DNA polymorphisms is noted and used to calculate the position of the UBP15 polypeptide-encoding nucleic acid in the genetic map previously obtained using this population (Botstein et al. (1980) Am. J. Hum. Genet. 32:314-331).
The production and use of plant gene-derived probes for use in genetic mapping is described in Bernatzky and Tanksley (1986) Plant Mol. Biol. Reporter 4: 37-41. Numerous publications describe genetic mapping of specific cDNA clones using the methodology outlined above or variations thereof. For example, F2 intercross populations, backcross populations, randomly mated populations, near isogenic lines, and other sets of individuals may be used for mapping. Such methodologies are well known to those skilled in the art.
The nucleic acid probes may also be used for physical mapping (i.e., placement of sequences on physical maps; see Hoheisel et al. In: Non-mammalian Genomic Analysis: A Practical Guide, Academic press 1996, pp. 319-346, and references cited therein).
In another embodiment, the nucleic acid probes may be used in direct fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) mapping (Trask (1991) Trends Genet. 7:149-154). Although current methods of FISH mapping favour use of large clones (several kb to several hundred kb; see Laan et al. (1995) Genome Res. 5:13-20), improvements in sensitivity may allow performance of FISH mapping using shorter probes.
A variety of nucleic acid amplification-based methods for genetic and physical mapping may be carried out using the nucleic acids. Examples include allele-specific amplification (Kazazian (1989) J. Lab. Clin. Med 11:95-96), polymorphism of PCR-amplified fragments (CAPS; Sheffield et al. (1993) Genomics 16:325-332), allele-specific ligation (Landegren et al. (1988) Science 241:1077-1080), nucleotide extension reactions (Sokolov (1990) Nucleic Acid Res. 18:3671), Radiation Hybrid Mapping (Walter et al. (1997) Nat. Genet. 7:22-28) and Happy Mapping (Dear and Cook (1989) Nucleic Acid Res. 17:6795-6807). For these methods, the sequence of a nucleic acid is used to design and produce primer pairs for use in the amplification reaction or in primer extension reactions. The design of such primers is well known to those skilled in the art. In methods employing PCR-based genetic mapping, it may be necessary to identify DNA sequence differences between the parents of the mapping cross in the region corresponding to the instant nucleic acid sequence. This, however, is generally not necessary for mapping methods.
The methods according to the present invention result in plants having altered growth and/or development, as described hereinbefore. These traits may also be combined with other economically advantageous traits, such as yield-enhancing traits, tolerance to other abiotic and biotic stresses, traits modifying various architectural features and/or biochemical and/or physiological features.
EXAMPLES
The present invention will now be described with reference to the following examples, which are by way of illustration alone. The following examples are not intended to completely define or to otherwise limit the scope of the invention.
1. Plant Material and Growth Conditions
The wild-type Arabidopsis thaliana plants used in this study were of the Columbia-0 ecotype. The 38 T-DNA insertion lines (including ubp15-1, ubp15-2 and ubp19-1 those three lines with observed phenotypes) listed in Table 1 were obtained from the SALK collection. UBP15 (or UBP15C447A/S)-overexpressing transgenic plants were obtained by transforming PUBP15:UBP15 (or PUBP15:UBP15C447A/S) into wild type background. UBP15 complemented (or UBP15C447A/S) transgenic plants were obtained by transforming PUBP15:UBP15 (or PUBP15:UBP15C447A/S) into ubp15-1 background. PUBP19:GUS transgenic plants were obtained by transforming the PUBP19:GUS construct into the wild type background. ubp15 ubp16, ubp15 ubp17 and ubp16 ubp17 double mutants were obtained by crossing ubp15-1 (or ubp15-2) with ubp16-1 or ubp17-1, or by crossing ubp16-1 with ubp17-1; homozygotes of F2 generation were confirmed by PCR analysis. Triple mutants ubp15 ubp16 ubp17 were obtained by crossing ubp15 with double mutants ubp16 ubp17; homozygotes of F2 generation were confirmed by PCR analysis.
Seeds were surface sterilized with 15% (v/v) NaOCl. After 48 h at 4° C. for vernalization, seeds were placed onto 1× Murashige and Skoog (MS) plates (containing 1% sucrose, and 0.3% Phytagel) and placed in a chamber at 22° C. under continuous light for 7 days before transferring to soil. Plants were then grown in standard long day (16 h light/8 h dark) growth rooms. Seeds grown in short day (8 h light/16 h dark) conditions were sown directly onto soil and were grown in a short day condition room.
2. Sequence Alignment and Phylogenetic Analysis
The search for the common domains shared among the 27 UBP proteins was performed by TAIR and NCBI CDART. The conserved domains within each protein were joined by eliminating variant regions and by alignment of the fragments using ClustalW (Thompson et al., 1994), followed by manual alignment.
A phylogenetic tree was constructed using MAGA version 3.1 (Kumar et al., 2004) on conserved positions of the alignment, using the neighbour-joining algorithm with 1000 bootstrap replicates.
3. Measurement of the Length of Seedlings, Root, Silique and Width and Length of Rosette Leaf
To obtain the root length of seedlings, wild type, ubp15-1 and ubp15-2 were grown vertically on plates. The root length of 20 randomly selected seedlings of either wild type or mutants was determined. 20 randomly selected mature siliques (older than 8 d after pollination) of wild type or mutants were measured. Mature rosette leaves from the first true leaf to the last one was dissected from wild type or ubp15-1, and the width and length of the leaves was measured.
4. Measurement of the Flowering Time and Rosette Leaf Number
The flowering time of wild type, ubp15-1, UBP15-overexpressing line was measured as the number of days from seed germination to the opening of the first flower. Rosette leaf numbers were counted at bolting.
5. RNA Isolation and RT-PCR
RNA was isolated using Trizol (Invitrogen). Before performing RT-PCR, 4 μgs RNA was treated with RNase-Free DNase (Premega) to avoid contamination of DNA, followed by chloroform: phenol (1:1) extraction to avoid the affect of the ions. A portion of RNA was then used for PCR by At3g04120/GAPDH primers to confirm elimination of the DNA. The remaining sample was subjected to the RT reaction using a SuperscriptTM II RNase H− Reverse Transcriptase kit (Invitrogen) and random primers. The reaction mixture was diluted 10 times and 1 μL was subjected to the PCR using rTaq DNA polymerase (TaKaRa). At3g04120/GAPDH was used as an internal control. Linearity of the PCR reaction was monitored by comparing relative amounts of PCR products after 22, 30, and 35 cycles. Forward and reverse primer sequences, used for detection of gene transcripts, were as follows At3g04120/GAPDH, 5′-CACTTGAAGGGTGGTGCCAAG-3′ and 5′-CCTGTTGTCGCCAACGAAGTC-3′; UBP15, 5′-TCGAGAGGCAACAGTTATGCTG-3′ and 5′-CTCAGGCCTCCAGTAACTGTAAGTTCTATCCTG-3′.
6. RNA Gel Blot Analysis
RNA blot was performed as previously described (Yang et al., 2005). The total RNA from different regions of leaves was extracted and 20 μgs of total RNA for each lane was separated on an agarose gel, transferred to a Hybond-N+ membrane (Amersham Biosciences), and hybridized with a UBP15-specific probe. 18S rRNA served as the loading control. Primers were as follows: UBP15, 5′-TCGAGAGGCAACAGTTATGCTG-3′ and 5′-CTCAGGCCTCCAGTAACTGTAAGTTCTATCCTG-3′.
7. Transient Expression in Onion Epidermal Cells
The procedure for transient expression in living onion (Allium cepa) epidermal cells using particle bombardment was performed as previously described (Ang et al., 1998). After bombardment, onion cell layers were incubated for 24 h at 22° C. in the light. The cell layers were then examined by confocal microscopy.
8. Constructs of Transgenic Lines
To obtain UBP15-overexpressing and UBP15 complemented plants, a Hindlll/Xbal-digested UBP15 promoter (1.8 kb upstream of ATG) fragment and an XbaI/StuI UBP15 CDS fragment (2.8 kb) was inserted into pCAMBIA1300 binary vector. The resulting construct was then transformed into wild type and ubp15-1 by means of Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Constructs mutated in Cys site PUBP15:UBP15C447A and PUBP15:UBP15C447S were also made in the same way and transformed into wild type and ubp15-1. Transgenic plants were selected with hygromycin (20 μg/mL; Roche) on MS plates.
To make 35S:GFP-UBP15 (or 35S:UBP15-GFP) constructs, 35S as well as GFP-fused full-length UBP15 CDS (or full-length UBP15 CDS fused GFP) was subcloned into the XbaI/SphI site of pCAMBIA1300.
To detect tissue expression pattern of UBP19 using GUS staining, a BamHI/KpnI fragment of UBP19 promoter (1.2 kb) was inserted into pCAMBIA1381Z and transformed into a wild type background using Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Transgenic lines were selected using hygromycin (20 μg/mL; Roche).
9. In Vitro DUB Activity Assay
The ability of UBP15 to cleave ubiquitin linked via a-amino linkages was performed in E. coli. using his-tagged substrates polyubiquitin UBQ10 and ubiquitin-extension protein UBQ1. Each of the two α-amino substrates (UBQ1 in pET28a and UBQ10 in pACYCDuet-1) were co-expressed with either GST or GST-UBP15 or GST-UBP15C447A/S in pGEX4T-3 in E. coli. strain NovaBlue (DE3) under standard conditions (22° C. induce) (Novagen). Lysates were analyzed on a Western blot with anti-ubiquitin antibody (Sigma) or anti-his antibody (Sigma). ECL chemiluminescences system (Amersham) was used for detection.
10. Tissue Fixation and Embedding for Histological Sections
To observe the transverse structure of leaves, samples were fixed for more than 24 h in FAA (50% ethanol, 5% acetic acid, and 5% formaldehyde) at room temperature, dehydrated in a graded series of mixture of H2O: 95% alcohol: tert-butyl alcohol (4:5:1, 3:5:2, 1.5:5:3.5, 0:5:5, 0:2.5:7.5, 100% tert-butyl alcohol twice) with a 2 h incubation in each solution and then infiltrated by adding paraffin gradually (tert-butyl alcohol: paraffin as 3:1, 2:2, 1:3, 0:4, 0:4). Embedded tissues were cut into 8 μm sections with a microtome (Leica RM2255). Sections were placed onto poly-L lysine coated slides, deparaffinized and rehydrated using an ethanol series (ethanol: H2O as 1:0, 1:0, 9.5:0.5, 9:1, 8:2, 7:3, and 1:1) with a 5 min incubation in each solution. Sections were then stained with 1% safranin O and 0.02% fast green. The cover glasses were adhibited on slides by resin. The numbers of adaxial epidermal and palisade cells were counted under a microscope.
11. Microarray Analysis and Quantitative RT-PCR
The procedures used in the microarray experiments and data analysis were described previously (Ma et al., 2002). Early emerged 9th rosette leaves of wild type and ubp15-1 were used as samples. Total RNA was isolated using RNAwiz reagent (Ambion) and purified by the RNeasy kit (Qiagen). For each sample, 50 μg of total RNA was labeled with aminoallyl-dUTP (aa-dUTP, Sigma-Aldrich) by reverse transcription. The aminoallyl-dUTP-labeled cDNAs were purified using a Microcon YM-30 filter (Millipore) and resuspended in 0.1 M NaHCO3. The purified cDNAs were further fluorescently labeled by conjugating monofunctional Cy3 or Cy5 dye (Amersham) to the aminoallyl functional groups. Pair-wise combinations of two selected samples were used to simultaneously probe one slide, and four independent biological replicates were performed (two replicates with dyes exchange). Hybridized slides were scanned with a GenePix 4000B scanner (Axon), and independent TIFF images for Cy3 and Cy5 channels were used for subsequent analysis by GenePix Pro5.0 software package.
To confirm the microarray result, real-time PCR was performed using the ABI SYBR Green PCR master mix in a volume of 20 μL on an ABI 7900 system. The PCR mixture consisted of 0.3 μL of cDNA, 0.6 μM primers, and 1× master mix. In every real-time PCR run, At1 g42970/GAPDH was used as an internal control to normalize for variation in the amount of cDNA template. The results of a t test confirmed it to be a constitutively expressed gene. The primer sequences used were: At1 g42970/GAPDH, 5′-TCTTTCCCTGCTCAATGCTCCTC-3′ and 5′-TTTCGCCACTGTCTCTCCTCTAAC-3′. 7 genes down regulated and 2 genes up regulated were picked for quantitative RT-PCR test. Primers used to quantify those genes were At1g71030/MYB, 5′-CATTTGCCTGACCTAAACATTG-3′ and 5′-AAGCGTTTCTTGACCTGTTGA-3′; At5g57660/TRANSCR/PT FACTOR, 5′-GGCTCATCCACCACCGTT-3′ and 5′-GGGAGAGGCTCTGTTTTCGTC-3′; At5g67030/ABA 1, 5′-GGGCTTGGTCCTCTGTCTT-3′ and 5′-GTGAGTCTGCAACTAGGTGGC3′; At5g35970/HELICASE-LIKE, 5′-CCACAGGGCTCGGAGGTAT-3′ and 5′-TCGTAAGTAAGGGCATCGGC-3′; At3g49160/PYRUVATE KINASE FAMILY PROTEIN, 5′-TCCAGCAGGTCTCACATAAACAA-3′ and 5′-CTGCTGCTAAGAGATGTGACCG-3′; At1g73480/HYDROLASE, 5′-AATGGCGGTGGAAACAATG-3′ and 5′-ACGACGCGAAACGGAAGGAG-3′; At5g24470/APRR5, 5-TACCCTACGCCAACCCCTAT-3′ and 5′-ATGTGATTGCCTATTGCACTATGT-3′; At3g20810/TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR, 5′-CCTCAATGCTGTTGCTGGTAA-3′ and 5′-TGGGCAAGATAAGTAGGCTCC-3′; At4g21990/APR3, 5′-CTGTCAACACGCTTCACGC-3′ and 5′-TCTTTCCGGTTCTCTAACTTCATC-3′. To determine the specificity of those primers, the amplified products were subjected to melt curve analysis using the machine's standard method. Cycling conditions were as follows: 50° C. for 2 min, 95° C. for 10 min, 40 cycles of 95° C. for 15 s, 60° C. for 30 s, and 72° C. for 1 min. The reported values were averages of six independent trials (two biological replicates and three technical replicates). Relative expression levels were calculated as follows. Transcript levels of those genes were normalized relative to a standard (GAPDH) using the formula ΔCT=CT (gene X) mean of technical repeat−CT (GAPDH) mean of technical repeat either in wild type or ubp15-1. Then, the ΔCt(wild type) and ΔCt(ubp15-1) of each gene was obtained. Wild type was used as the standard for the comparison of expression levels. Relative expression levels were then calculated using the equation 2−[ΔCT (ubp15-1)−ΔACT (wild type)]. Next, the CT average of 2 biological repeats was calculated.
12. Detection of GUS Activity
PUBP19:GUS transgenic lines were grown on MS plates. Seedlings were washed gently with 100 mM sodium phosphate buffer, pH 7.0, and then stained for 4 h at 37° C. in 2 mM X-glucuronide dissolved in 0.1 mM potassium ferricyanide, 0.1 mM potassium ferrocyanide, 10% Triton X-100, 100 μg/ml chloramphenicol, and 500 mM sodium phosphate buffer, pH 7.0 (Weigel and Glazebrook, 2002; Byrne et al., 2003). The tissue was then washed in 100 mM sodium phosphate buffer followed by 95% and 70% ethanol at room temperature. Microscopy was performed by a dissection microscope (Leica MZFLIII) with a 10× objective, and images were captured by Canon digital camera (Power Shot S70).
13. Accession Numbers
Arabidopsis Genome Initiative locus identifiers for the genes mentioned in this article are listed in Table 1.
14. The UBP Genes Exhibited Non-Identical Expression Profiles
To obtain expression patterns of the UBP genes, a previously described microarray data set was examined covering 18 different Arabidopsis organs, including cauline leaves, rosette leaves, pistil one day before pollination, pistil one day after pollination, silique 3 day after pollination, silique 8 day after pollination, stem, sepal, stamen, petal, seed, cultured cell, root dark, root white light, hypocotyl dark, hypocotyl white light, cotyledon dark and cotyledon white light (Ma et al., 2005; Supplemental Table 1). In that described study, 24 of 27 UBP genes were covered by the microarray used and expression for all 24 genes was detected in one or more tissues. Among those 24 genes, UBP9 and UBP10 were found to be essentially identical and their oligo probes were cross-hybridized to each other, thus not enabling definitive definition of the expression of both genes. The expression of the three genes not covered by this microarray, UBP13, UBP14 and UBP20, were reported in a prior study (Yan et al., 2000). As a sample case, the tissue-specific expression profiles for the 5 genes in UBP15 subfamily were present in FIG. 13. The 5 genes appear to have distinct expression profiles.
15. Genome Wide Isolation and Analysis of T-DNA Insertional Mutants of the UBP Genes
As a first step in the functional analysis of the UBP gene family, the North America Arabidopsis Resource Center database was searched for all available T-DNA insertion lines for the UBP gene family members. A total of 38 T-DNA insertion lines corresponding to 25 UBP genes were obtained and verified, as summarized in Table 1 with the locations of the T-DNA insertion sites for each line. Following PCR-based genotyping, forward and reverse primers (Supplemental Table 2) were designed. Examination of possible phenotypes of those individual mutant homozygous lines revealed that only 5 loss-of-function mutant lines in 3 genes of 2 subfamilies exhibited visible phenotypes (Table 1). Two independent T-DNA alleles for UBP14 exhibited recessive embryo lethality, similar to a previous report (Doelling et al., 2001). Another three mutant lines belonging to the UBP15 subfamily, with two alleles for UBP15, exhibited a leaf morphology phenotype, and one allele for UBP19 exhibited embryo lethality. The 5 genes in this subfamily had not previously been characterised and so were selected for in-depth analysis.
A search for homologous genes of AtUBP15 subfamily in Rice (Oriza Sativa) to find out whether they have similar functions was carried out. Four genes were found with high similarity, and were aligned with the 5 AtUBP15 subfamily genes. The resultant phylogenetic tree is shown in FIG. 14. One of the rice genes was even more similar to AtUBP15 than other Arabidopsis genes.
16. The Two ubp15 Mutant Alleles Exhibited Similar Leaf Development Defects
The two T-DNA insertion lines for UBP15, Salk—018601 and Salk—015611, designated ubp15-1 and ubp15-2, were identified from the Salk collection and have T-DNA insertions in the 12th and 8th exon of the UBP15 gene respectively (FIG. 2A). Semi-quantitative RP-PCR showed the mRNA expression level could not be detected in either of the two mutants (FIG. 2B), suggesting both are null alleles. Both lines segregated a single, recessive Mendelian trait (described below) similar to each other co-segregating with the T-DNA, indicating the trait was caused by a single insertion in UBP15. Compared to wild type adult plants, both mutants give smaller plants and narrow, serrated leaves, with the leaf phenotype becoming more severe in the later rosette leaves (FIG. 2C). The mutants also exhibited shorter roots in seedling stage (FIG. 2D), smaller flowers (FIG. 2E), shorter siliques (FIG. 2F) as well as short and slim stems. Those morphopmetric changes (silique length, root length, primary stem length and primary stem diameter) are summarized in Table 2.
The morphology of rosette leaves using ubp15-1 were further analysed. The rosette leaves of wild type Arabidopsis grown in long day condition (16 h light/8 h dark) gradually change their overall patterns, starting with true leaves round and flat, slowing become more ovule shaped and a little downward-curled, eventually become long and narrow shape, with severe downward-curled margin. While the rosette leaves of ubp15-1 mutants are more flat even at a later stage and consistently produce fewer rosette leaves (10.8 versus 12.6 of wild type) before bolting (FIG. 2C). The ratio of length and width of ubp15-1 and wild type was plotted and defined as a leaf index value (Tsukaya, 2006), and revealed a much stronger reduction in width than in length of the rosette leaf blade in the mutant (FIG. 2G). On the contrary, cauline leaves of ubp15-1 did not show any obvious difference compared to the wild type.
Consistent with the reduced number of vegetative leaves, ubp15-1 also exhibited an early flowering phenotype, with average flowering time of 39.1 (±2.02) days versus the 41.5 (±3.79) days for wild type (Table 2). Even in short day condition (8 h light/16 h dark), ubp15-1 was also slight early flowering (Table 2). Also noted was that ubp15-1 rosette leaves had less weight (Table 2) and were thinner, implying alteration of the cell structure.
17. UBP15 Expressed Highly in Rosette Leaves and Reproductive Tissues, and Localized to Both Cytosol and Nucleus
The presence of defects in ubp15-1 rosette leaves and flowers suggested involvement of UBP15 in regulation of vegetative and reproductive development. To support this, and to verify the prior microarray analysis, a semi quantitative RT-PCR was employed to examine tissue specific expression of UBP15. As shown in FIG. 3A, the mRNA level of UBP15 was highly accumulated in the rosette leaves and inflorescences, while low in roots, siliques and cotyledons, intermediate level in stems and cauline leaves. This expression pattern is largely consistent with microarray data (Supplemental Table 1 and FIG. 13).
The spatial expression pattern of UBP15 within a rosette leaf was further examined. As in FIG. 3B, rosette leaves at early, middle, and late stages were selected and dissected into center and margin regions for separate RNA preparations (FIG. 3B upper part, shown by the black lines) and RNA blot analysis (FIG. 3B, bottom). UBP15 mRNA level increased from early leaf to late leaf, together with a more evident higher expression in margin of leaf in late stage. These leaf expression patterns during development were consistent with a role of UBP15 in defining the leaf pattern and shapes of leaves margin, such as serrating and curling.
To assess the subcellular distribution of UBP15, constructs containing either 35S:GFP-UBP15 or 35S:UBP15-GFP were transformed into onion epidermal cell. Transient expression showed the fusion proteins ubiquitously present in both cytosol and nucleus, and the result for 35S:GFP-UBP15 is shown in FIG. 3C.
18. UBP15 Possess De-Ubiquitinatination Activity in Vitro and this Biochemical Activity is Essential for Function in Vivo
To verify UBP15 is a bona fide de-ubiquitinating enzyme, UBP15 as well as two mutated forms (changed the conserved catalytic center Cysteine447 residue to Alanine or Serine) were co-expressed as GST fusion proteins in E. coli. The his tagged UBQ1 or UBQ10 poly-ubiquitin proteins were used as substrates for in vitro DUB activity assay with recombinant GST-UBP15 wild type or mutant form proteins. Immunoblot analysis with anti-ubiquitin antibody showed UBP15 was capable of cleaving the two substrates and that Cysteine447 is essential for this DUB activity (FIGS. 4A and 4B respectively).
To test the essential role of DUB activity of UBP15 in plant development, we introduced wild type UBP15 and its two Cysteine447 mutant forms under the control of the UBP15 native promoter into wild type Arabidopsis and ubp15-1 background by means of Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. For the transgenic lines with wild type background, we obtained in total 36 independent T0 generation plants for the wild type UBP15 transgene. Half of the lines (18 out of 36) exhibited no phenotypic changes, whereas the other half displayed interesting differences from wild type, opposite to the ubp15 mutant phenotypes (FIG. 4C, middle left). For those lines with wild type transgenes in ubp15-1 background, 5 independent lines showed wild type phenotype (FIG. 4C, middle right), thus functionally rescued the mutant defect. RNA gel blot analysis with two representative lines from each groups (FIG. 4D) revealed that high level expression of the transgene in wild type background was responsible for the abnormal phenotype opposite to ubp15-1 mutant, while expression level similar to endogenous gene confer phenotype rescue in ubp15-1 mutant and no phenotype effect in wild type background. Where the wild type transgene failed to rescue the ubp15-1 phenotype, those transgenic lines only expressed truncated ubp15 mRNA and failed to express wild type mRNA.
Introduction of UBP15C447A or UBP15C447S mutant transgenes under the control of the UBP15 native promoter into wild type, and ubp15-1, failed to cause overexpression phenotype in wild type background and complementation of mutant phenotype in ubp15-1 background, as the RNA gel blot analysis showed normal or even higher level expression of mutant genes (FIGS. 4C and 4E). In contrast, some lines with UBP15C447A in wild type exhibited phenotype similar to ubp15-1 mutant (FIG. 4C, bottom left, and 4E), which was opposite to the UBP15-overexpression in wild type background, as did transgenic lines of wild type overexpressing UBP15C447S (data not shown). Those lines tended to express the mutant transgene at higher levels, likely caused a dominant negative interference with endogenous protein function. These results imply that DUB activity is essential for UBP15 function in vivo.
19. Over-Expression of UBP15 Displaying Phenotypes Opposite to ubp15-1 Mutants
We further examined the phenotypes of UBP15-overexpressing lines (wild type transgenes in wild type background) above. One obvious phenotype was the larger overall status of the plants as well as each rosette leaf. The rosette leaves of those over-expressing lines were rounder than of wild types starting at very early stage and were severely downwardly-curled in the middle to later stages (FIG. 4C, middle left). Later developed rosette leaves, such as the ninth rosette leaf, were not only downwardly-curled, but also sometimes displayed a knot in the leaf tip region (arrow in FIG. 5B, compare 5A and 5B), possibly caused by the uneven proliferation of the cells in different positions within a leaf. In addition, the UBP15-overexpressing line was also late flowering, with the greater number of rosette leaves (16.2) before bolting than that of wild type, and the delay in flowering time under long day conditions (Table 2). The fresh weight of the rosette leaves of UBP15-overexpressing lines per area was also increased compared to wild type (Table 2).
There was also an evident flower phenotype in UBP15-overexpressing lines. Compared to the wild type, UBP15-overexpressing lines exhibited larger flowers (compare FIGS. 5I and 5J) with a high rate of abnormality in petal or stamen number (by 91.3%, 40 out of 46 in one plant) in the early flowers (FIGS. 5C and 5D, 5E, 5K). However this flower pattern abnormality was less frequent in late flowers. The overexpression lines also has siliques larger than wild type (FIG. 5L), opposite to the ubp15-1 mutants. Flower and silique abnormalities do not affect fertility, unless in extreme cases where damaged sexual organs prevented fertilization (FIG. 5H and 5M). An increased apical dominance in over-expressing lines was seen compared to the reduce apical dominance in ubp15 mutants (Table 2 and FIG. 15). In some extreme cases of UBP15 over-expression plants, positions for expected secondary bolts in the only main bolt degenerated into a flower then silique (FIG. 5G) contrasting to wild type (FIG. 5F).
20. The Ubp15 Loss-of-Function Mutants and UBP15-Overexpressing Plants Display Opposite Abnormality in Leaf Cell Proliferation
To further characterize the role of UBP15 in Arabidopsis leaf development, the morphogenetic patterns of all leaves, from cotyledons, true leaves, to cauline leaves from loss-of-function mutants, over-expressing plants, and wild type were compared. As shown in FIG. 6A, wild type plants had about 11 rosette leaves, while both two ubp15 mutants had about 9 rosette leaves. In contrast, UBP15-overexpressing line produced about 14 rosette leaves. Rosette leaves in the two mutants were narrow, serrated and flat, but were more round in early leaves and downwardly-curled in later leaves in UBP15-overexpressing plants. The cauline leaves did not exhibit obvious differences amongst those lines examined, except two mutants had slightly narrower leaves.
To examine the cellular basis for their small plant size and narrow leaf lamina of the ubp15 mutants, transverse sections of leaves from mutants as well as UBP15-overexpressing line were compared with wild type leaves. The cartoon in the right of FIG. 6B illustrates the positions of representative sections routinely obtained and analyzed, which was in the middle region of the leaf. The left cartoon in FIG. 5B was the section model of the middle region of wild type. Six leaves (leaves with odd numbers in FIG. 6A) were selected for measurement, from the first cotyledon to the first, the third, the fifth, the ninth true leaf and the first grown cauline leaf. Those true leaves later than the ninth were not included for uniformity, because two mutants produced only 9 ̃10 true leaves. Adaxial epidermal cell number and palisade cell numbers in each line were counted in serial sections (3 ̃4) under microscope.
For adaxial epidermal cells, the cell number of each position in each line is shown in FIG. 6C. At the beginning of leaf development, the adaxial epidermal cell numbers across the lamina among those lines was similar, which was  ̃30 cells in the cotyledon of each line, but the difference increased with the development of the leaves, and severely differed in the ninth rosette leaf, cell numbers across the lamina of which were  ̃290 in wild type,  ̃180 in two mutants (decreased by  ̃40%) and  ̃400 in UBP15-overexpressing line (increased by  ̃40%). It was consistent with the phenotype observed, for distinction became noticeable in late development phases. Adaxial epidermal cell number of cauline leaf was higher than that of any rosette leaves. This may possibly be caused by more density in the adaxial epidermal cell number across the cauline leaf. Similar results were observed in the measuring of palisade cell number (FIG. 16). Mutation of UBP15 gave a decrease in adaxial epidermal and palisade cell number in a lateral direction, while overexpression of UBP15 led to the opposite.
21. Arabidopsis UBP15 is Involved in Leaf Cell Layer Organization
To extend the findings of cell number alteration, the cellular structure of the leaves of those lines was examined. Based on the result that late developed rosette leaves exhibited severe phenotype, the fully expanded ninth rosette leaf was chosen for comparison of the transverse sections of cellular structure in the middle region of the lines (FIG. 6B). As FIG. 7A left first wild type shown, leaf had an organized internal anatomy containing a layer of vertically packed palisade cells beneath the adaxial surface, and  ̃4 layers spongy parenchyma cells, interspersed with air spaces, were loosely arranged below the palisade layer. ubp15-1 and ubp15-2 also exhibited similar structure but the number of spongy cell layers in mutants was less than that of wild type, whereas that of UBP15-overexpressing line was more (FIG. 7A, from left, the second to the fourth). The spongy cell layers in wild type was generally  ̃4, but in two mutants the spongy cell layers were  ̃3, while in UBP15-overexpressing line the spongy cell layers reached  ̃5. The defects in cell layer structure in ubp15-1 was rescued by expression of its corresponding wild-type UBP15, confirming that these ubp15-1 phenotype was caused directly by disruption of the UBP15 gene (data not shown). These results were consistent with the fresh weight results for less weight corresponding to the less cell layers (Table 2), greater weight resulting from more cell layers (see above). A slight increase in the cell size of mutants was detected, implying partial compensation of the loss of cell number.
The mid-vein and peripheral structure of those lines was also compared. The vascular bundle of wild type was composed of several layers of xylem and phloem surrounded by layers of parenchyma cell (FIG. 7B, left first). In contrast, two mutants showed decreased thickness. The vascular bundles of the two mutants were slimmer than of the wild type due to decreased cell number in xylem and phloem. In addition, the numbers of parenchyma cells surrounding the vascular bundles of two mutants was also reduced. In UBP15-overexpressing line, opposite results were obtained, showing advanced vascular bundle, strong both in xylem and phloem (FIG. 7B, from left, the second to the fourth).
22. Transcriptome Analysis Shows UBP15 Influences Expression Level of 804 Genes (Adjusted P<0.15)
To examine the cell cycle effects in ubp15-1 and to explore the possible role of UBP15 in regulating the transcription of other genes, we performed microarray assay to conduct a genome wide expression analysis on the ninth rosette leaf immediately emerged. Microarray analysis also confirmed no expression of UBP15 mRNA in ubp15-1 (Supplemental Table 3). Statistical analysis showed a total of 804 out of 20,000 genes were differentially expressed in ubp15-1 compared with wild type at adjusted P<0.15 (4% of the expressed genes), among which 406 (50.5%) were up regulated and 398 (49.5%) were down regulated with fold change expression ranging from 1.72 to 8.35 and 0.09 to 0.56, respectively (Supplemental Table 3). To confirm the trends observed in the transcriptome analysis, we randomly picked 9 genes with 7 down regulated and 2 up regulated and performed real-time PCR. Expression levels of those genes was consistent with that of microarray result at 100% (FIG. 8), suggesting microarray assay was reliable. At1g42970/GAPDH served as an internal control.
To characterize the biological processes involved, representatives of those genes influenced by the ubp15-1 mutant were analyzed for gene ontology (GO) (Maere et al., 2005) (Table 3). Two genes related to cell cycle were differentially expressed in ubp15-1 (Table 3). Because the flowering time was also influenced in ubp15-1, genes controlling flowering were the focus. Floral homeotic gene CAL, positively regulating flower development, was up regulated 1.98 fold in ubp15-1 background, while another one, MAF5, negatively regulated flower development was down regulated 0.31 fold (Table 3).
Other categories influenced by ubp15-1 comprised genes involved in biosynthetic metabolism, chlorophyll biosynthesis, photosynthesis, signal transduction and also included a large number of transcription factors (Table 3). Thus, besides effects on some phenotype-related genes such as cell cycle and flowering control, the ubp15-1 mutant was in general defective in numerous plant metabolism pathways at the transcriptional level, suggesting secondary and not only primary effects on the observed growth defects.
23. UBP15 and UBP16 are Partially Redundant but not with UBP17
UBP16 and UBP17 are two closely related proteins (FIG. 1), suggesting they may have functional redundancy. Knockout lines of the two genes (ubp16-1, ubp17-1 and ubp17-2) (FIG. 9A) did not show any observable phenotype. ubp16-1 was crossed with ubp17-1 or ubp17-2 to examine whether there was any defect in double mutants. Homozygote F2 generation of crossed lines did not show noticeable phenotype, indicating there may be other proteins for redundancy. Subsequently crossed were ubp15 mutants with the double mutant ubp16 ubp17. In the F2 generation, three gene types of double mutants ubp15 ubp16, ubp15 ubp17 and ubp16 ubp17 were obtained, as well as a triple mutant ubp15 ubp16 ubp17 (FIGS. 9B and 9C, ubp16 ubp17 not shown). Double mutant ubp15 ubp16 showed a similar but more severe phenotype to the ubp15 mutant, indicating there may be functional redundancy of the two genes. ubp15 ubp16 exhibited dwarf plants and aborted siliques, rosette leaves, which were narrower than that of ubp15 mutants (FIG. 9C). The alteration in cellular level was also conspicuous, only 2 spongy cell layers (FIG. 7A, right first) and strikingly degenerated vascular bundle (FIG. 7B, right first). In the case of the ninth leaf, the adaxial epidermal cell number cross the leaf lamina decreased by 60% over that of wild type (FIG. 17), as did the palisade cell number (data not shown). In contrast, ubp15 ubp17 did not further the defect of ubp15 mutants, implying those two gene may work in two different pathways to regulate cellular function. The triple mutant ubp15 ubp16 ubp17 was similar to the double mutant ubp15 ubp16, further confirming UBP17 involves in another regulating pathway from UBP15 and UBP16, although it had higher sequence homology to UBP16.
The data suggest that the UBP15 mutation disrupted rosette leaf development, and its effect was more prominent when combined with UBP16. The effect of UBP16 was only detectable in the presence of UBP15. There was no detectable effect of the UBP17 mutation on this process. These results indicate that UBP15 is a major regulator of the shape of rosette leaves and development of the whole plants. UBP16 is also involved in these processes, although its contribution was less prominent than that of UBP15.
24. UBP19 May be Involved in Embryo Development While the Function of UBP18 is Unknown
FIG. 9A shows UBP18 and UBP19 gene structure with two T-DNA mutants each. ubp19-1, with T-DNA inserted in the 5′UTR region 195 bp upstream of ATG, exhibited recessive embryo lethality, with  ̃1/4 (13/47) aborted embryos in one heterozygote silique (FIG. 9B, arrow indicated yellow embryos). Further statistical analysis of an average of 10 siliques in each heterozygote line showed the ratio of the normal:abnormal was  ̃3:1 (372/136), confirming it was a recessive embryo lethal line. The embryo development in a specific heterozygote silique, from mature stage tracing back to globular stage was examined. It was found that ubp19-1 stopped developing at globular stage (FIG. 10C).
It is therefore proposed that UBP19 is involved in early stage embryo development. A GUS construct driven by a 1.2 kb UBP19 promoter was made to transform wild types and to examine tissue expression pattern. It was found that UBP19 was ubiquitously expressed, including in the whole young seedling, except the root meristemetic region (FIG. 11A) (Enlarged in FIG. 11A was the detailed demonstration of root tip region), in the vascular tissues and stomas of mature rosette leaves (FIG. 11B) as well as in inflorescence. Detailed examination found GUS expressed in the sepal and petal vascular tissues, also in anthers and styles (FIG. 11C). GUS was detected in the tip and basal regions of siliques but hardly within the embryos (FIG. 11D).
Another ubp19 mutant, 205 bp upstream of ATG, did not show any obvious phenotype, indicating the region between 195 bp to 205 bp upstream of ATG was essential for the function of UBP19.
Neither of the two mutants inserted in UBP18 exon and intron exhibited any observable phenotype, implying potential functional redundancy between UBP18 and other proteins in this family.
25. UBP15 is Involved in Rosette Leaf Development
Phenotype of ubp15 mutants and UBP15-overexpressing lines provided a basis for further analysis of this gene in plant leaf development. Both ubp15 mutants showed rosette leaves that were narrow, serrated and flat, whereas UBP15-overexpressing lines produced an opposite phenotype with rosette leaves that were round (early developed) and downwardly-curled (late developed) (FIG. 2A and FIG. 5B). The cell number of transverse sections (both palisade and adaxial epidermal cells across the leaf lamina) of ubp15 mutants decreased whereas that of UBP15-overexpressing line dramatically increased compared to wild types. This indicates that UBP15 alters leaves shape by cell proliferation, possibly by regulating cell cycle proteins. Recently, hub1 was found to exhibit narrower rosette leaves, caused by cell number decrease and a microarray assay discovered that the amount of genes related to cell cycle and cytokinesis were changed (Fleury et al., 2007). In this study, although microarray data showed there were only two genes related to cell cycle altered (ICK1 and Cycle-like F box domain containing protein), their expression level was consistent with the cell number decrease. The rosette leaves in mutants became flat while they were downwardly-curled in UBP15-overexpressing lines. The expression level of UBP15 in rosette leaves increased in the leaf margin with the development of plants (FIG. 3B), suggesting that UBP15 specifically (at least partly) determines the margin of rosette leaves. This was similar to iamt1-D, which displayed dramatic hyponastic leaf phenotypes caused by increased expression levels of the IAMT1 gene, and which was found to be specifically expressed in the margin of rosette leaves by GUS expression assay (Qin et al., 2005).
The leaf index increased in ubp15-1 mutants because of narrower rosette leaves (although leaf length was shorter but less altered and lead to a large leaf index value). Polarized growth of leaf blades in the leaf-width direction is governed by polar elongation of leaf cells or polar cell proliferation (Tsukaya, 2006). Genes altered cell proliferation in leaf-width direction reported until now are GIF1 (also named AN3) (Kim and Kende, 2004), GRF5 (Horiguchi et al., 2005), and HUB1 (Kim and Kende, 2004; Horiguchi et al., 2005; Fleury et al., 2007). They all are important in positive control of cell number in leaf width direction. ubp15 mutants altered adaxial epidermal and palisade cell numbers in leaf width direction, but microarray data did not show there was any change of the expression level of GIF1 (AN3), GRF5 or HUB1 in ubp15-1 background. This may because of distinct pathways involved by UBP15 and those genes.
26. The Cysteine Amino Acid of UBP15 is Critical for its Function in Vitro and in Vivo
In vitro co-expression assay showed UBP15 is a bona fide ubiquitin specific protease and Cys447 is critical for this activity. It was found that UBP15 can only cleave a-linked peptide (polyubiquitin and ubiquitin-extension gene) (FIG. 5A), not c-linked isopeptide (multiubiquitin chain linked by iso-peptide) (data not shown), suggesting it may only function on a-linked peptide or can only recognize the site of substrate-proximal end of the chain. UBP3, 4 and 5 proteins were reported to contain nuclear localization signal and were deduced to only function on isopeptide-linked substrates (Chandler et al., 1997; Rao-Naik et al., 2000). The subcellular localization of UBP15, ubiquitous expression throughout the cell, suggests that this enzyme may recognize more than one substrate to execute its diverse functions; or it has other function addition of de-ubiquitination.
In this study, we first proved in vivo function of Cys447 of UBP15 in leaf development. While expressing UBP15 wild type construct in ubp15-1 can rescue the mutant phenotype, neither overexpressing UBP15C447A or UBP15C447S showed complementation of mutant deficiency. This implied Cysteine447 was the functional residue of UBP15. On the other hand, transgenic lines of wild type with constructs containing wild type UBP15 exhibited downwardly-curled mature rosette leaves while those with constructs containing mutation in Cys447Ala or Cys447Ser showed ubp15-1 mutant phenotype. This result confirmed the phenotype of rosette leaves was caused by overexpression of UBP15 and that the Cys447 is critical for this function. It also implies that it is the de-ubiquitination activity but not other domains (such as Zinc finger MYND) that cause the abnormality. Recently found gene HUB1 (Fleury et al., 2007), an E3 ligase mono-ubiquitinating H2B, with similar phenotype as ubp15 mutants, possibly shares the same pathway as UBP15.
There is also another result that transgenic lines with construct containing UBP15 driven by 35S promoter in wild type background did not show any phenotype, nor did the mutant can be rescued (data not shown). This suggested the native promoter may provide a favorable spatial structure for better executing the function of exogenous proteins.
27. UBP15 Regulates Transcription of Many Genes
A microarray assay was performed to analyze the possible role of UBP15 in regulating other genes at a transcriptional level. Two genes related to cell cycle were found to be altered and may directly cause the cell number changes in ubp15-1, although not like HUB1, which altered cell cycle proteins across the genome (24 genes).
We also found two genes controlling flowering were altered and this alteration caused the phenotype we observed. MAF5 and Floral homeotic gene CAL, regulate flowering in opposition, both showed altered ubp15-1 and caused the early flower phenotype.
Although numerous other genes were up- or down-regulated in ubp15-1, they seem to be the secondary effectors instead of proximal downstream targets.
28. Functional Redundancy Among the UBP15 Subfamily Members
UBP15 subfamily members encode proteins containing zinc finger MYND domains. They can be further divided into 3 groups based on the sequence similarity. UBP16 and UBP17 have 50% amino acid identity in their two conserved domains, while UBP18 and UBP19 have 68% identity in the full length. But UBP15 is less similar to other four (UBP15 to UBP16 is 37% identity in the UBP domain and to UBP18 is 45% identity in the full length), and this explains the ubp15 mutant phenotype. To see if UBP16 and UBP17 have functional redundancy, the two mutants of the two genes were crossed to give double mutants. Homozygotes of double mutants did not show any phenotype suggesting they may work in different pathways. Subsequently, the double mutant was crossed with ubp15 mutants to examine whether there is any alteration. In the F2 generation, only ubp15 ubp16 but no others intensified the phenotype of ubp15 mutants. This indicated that UBP15 and UBP16 may have functional redundancy. Triple mutant ubp15 ubp16 ubp17 exhibited similar phenotypes as ubp15 ubp16 further suggesting UBP17 did not involve in the function shared by the other two. On the other hand, ubp16 mutant did not display any visible phenotype, but it intensified the phenotype of ubp15 mutants, suggesting that in Arabidopsis, UBP15 is a master regulator in this pathway. Functional redundancy was also observed in another subfamily UBP1 and UBP2, whose double mutants but not each mutant were sensitive to Canavanine (Yan et al., 2000).
The sequence homology of UBP18 and UBP19 also imply functional redundancy. However, only one mutant (ubp19-1) out of four showed recessive embryo lethality. Furthermore, insertion in the 195 bp upstream of UBP19 5′UTR caused a phenotype, whereas inserting 205 bp upstream of UBP19 5′UTR did not show any phenotype. This implies the region from 195 bp tracing to 205 bp upstream of UBP19 5′UTR is critical for the function of UBP19.
On the other hand, although UBP16 and UBP17 are more related to each other than to UBP15 in protein sequences, the exhibited phenotype of ubp15 ubp16 similar to ubp15 mutant suggested UBP16 was more related to UBP15 instead of UBP17 in function. This also applies to the group of UBP18 and UBP19, since the phenotype can only be detected in the ubp19 mutant but not in ubp18 mutants. This shows that proteins closely related at a sequence level are not always functionally redundant.



DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES
The present invention will now be described with reference to the following figures in which:
FIG. 1. Phylogenetic Analysis of 27 UBPs family of Arabidopsis. 
The Phylogenetic tree of 27 UBPs. The branch lengths of the tree are proportional to divergence. The 0.1 scale represents 10% change. Bootstrap values are shown in percentages at nodes. 27 proteins can be subdivided into 14 subfamilies differing in distinct colors based on the domain similarity. Multiple alignments used for this analysis are shown in FIG. 12.
Proteins with conserved domains are plotted on a schematically scale. Each colored box represents a domain. Black lines represent the length of UBP proteins, while the length of the domains can be estimated by the binding black lines. aa, amino acids; UBP, ubiquitin specific protease; ZnF, zinc finger; MYND, myeloid, Nervy, and DEAF-1; DUSP, domain in ubiquitin-specific proteases; UBQ, ubiquitin homologues; MATH, meprin and TRAF homology; UBA, ubiquitin-associated.
FIG. 2. Characterization of the Ubiquitin-Specific Protease gene UBP15.

    (A) Gene structure of UBP15. There are 14 exons dispersed within the 4.37 kb genomic region. Black boxes represent the exons while lines between those exons are introns. White boxes in the two ends stand for 5′ and 3′ UTRs. Two T-DNA knockout lines inserted in the 8th and 12th exon respectively, each resulting in destroyed UBP domain.
    (B) Expression of UBP15 in the wild type and the homozygous ubp15-1 and ubp15-2 by RT-PCR with the primer of UBP15FP and UBP15RP. At3g04120/GAPDH served as an internal control.
    (C) One-month-old plants of wild type, homozygous ubp15-1 and homozygous ubp15-2. Bar=1 cm.
    (D) 12-d-old seedlings of wild type, homozygous ubp15-1 and homozygous ubp15-2. Bar=1 cm.
    (E) Flowers of wild type, homozygous ubp15-1 and homozygous ubp15-2. Bar=1 mm.
    (F) Siliques of wild type, homozygous ubp15-1 and homozygous ubp15-2. Bar=1 cm. Plants above all grow in 16 light/8 dark condition.
    (G) Length and width ratio of the rosette leaves of wild type and ubp15-1 in short day condition (8 h light/16 h dark). Error bars represent the standard deviation of the 7 repeats.


FIG. 3. Tissue and developmental expression patterns of UBP15, and subcellular localization of UBP15 in onion epidermal cells.

    (A) RT-PCR analysis of tissue expression pattern of UBP15. At3g04120/GAPDH as an internal control.
    (B) Northern blot analysis of UBP15 expression pattern in leaf center and margin regions in three developmental stages, P1, P2 and P3. Leaves were dissected in two parts: center and margin as the lines shown in the figure. Equal amounts of total RNA from the different samples were used, and gel blot was hybridized and labeled with UBP15 gene-specific probes. The rRNA band pattern was used to show equal loading. C, center region; M, margin region. Bar=1 cm.
    (C) Subcellular localization of UBP15 in onion epidermal cells. Bar=100 μm.


FIG. 4. UBP15 encodes a functional deubiquitinating enzyme capable of cleaving the polypeptides, and its Cys447 is essential for the function in vitro and in vivo.

    (A) UBP15 can cleave substrate UBQ1 (ubiquitin-extension protein). Co-expressed plasmids in E. coli. Novablue (DE3) strain (Novagen) was UBQ1 with GST vector (lane 1), GST-UBP15 (lane 2), GST-UBP15C447A (lane 3) and GST-UBP15C447S (lane 4). The cleaved products were detected by immunoblot analysis with anti-ubiquitin antibody.
    (B) UBP15 can cleave substrate UBQ10 (hexameric polyubiquitin). Co-expressed plasmids in E. coli. Novablue (DE3) strain (Novagen) was UBQ10 with GST vector (lane 1), GST-UBP15 (lane 2), GST-UBP15C447A (lane 3) and GST-UBP15C447S (lane 4). The cleaved products were detected by immunoblot analysis with anti-ubiquitin antibody. Cleaved products are shown as white arrows.
    (C) Expression of UBP15 in ubp15-1 recapitulates its wild type function, while overexpression of UBP15, but not UBP15C447A or UBP15C447S, causes phenotype with round (early developed) and curled down (mature) rosette leaves opposite to the ubp15-1 mutants. Samples one-month-old from left to right and up to bottom are: wild type, ubp15-1, UBP15-overexpressing line, UBP15-complemented line, UBP15C447A-overexpressing line and UBP15C447A-overexpressing in ubp15-1 line. Bar=1 cm.
    (D) RNA gel blot analysis of the UBP15 gene expression in transgenic lines. RNA levels from wild type (1), ubp15-1 (2), wild type with UBP15 transgene (3-6) and ubp15-1 with UBP15 transgene (7-9) plants were analyzed. Total RNA was isolated from rosette leaves grown for 4 weeks. Equal amounts of total RNA from the different plant samples were used, and gel blot was hybridized and labeled with UBP15 gene-specific probes. The rRNA band pattern was used to show equal loading. The upper band (upper arrow) was the full length of the UBP15 mRNA, while the lower band (lower arrow) represented the truncated mRNA. Lane3, 4 were the samples with UBP15-overexpressing phenotype while lane 5, 6 were similar to wild type without obviously UBP15-overexpressing phenotype. Lane 7, 8 but not 9 were rescued samples for they did not exhibit mutants phenotype but as normal as wild type. Line 9 sample showed ubp15-1 mutant phenotype.
    (E) RNA gel blot analysis of the UBP15C447A gene expression in transgenic lines.


FIG. 5. Comparison of wild type and UBP15-overexpressing line.

    (A) Ninth rosette leaf of wild type. Bar=1 mm.
    (B) Ninth rosette leaf of UBP15-overexpressing line. Bar=1 mm.
    (C) Top view of wild type flower. Bar=1 mm.
    (D) (E) (K) Ectopic flowers of UBP15-overexpressing line. Bar=1 mm.
    (I) Side view of the flower of wild type. Bar=1 mm.
    (J) Side view of the flower of UBP15-overexpressing line. Bar=1 mm.
    (F) Secondary stems of wild type. Bar=1 cm.
    (G) Degenerated secondary stems of UBP15-overexpressing line. Bar=1 cm.
    (H) Siliques of wild type. Bar=1 cm.
    (M) Abnormal siliques of UBP15-overexpressing line. Bar=1 cm.
    (L) Comparison the normal siliques of wild type (left) and UBP15-overexpressing line (right). Bar=1 cm.


FIG. 6. Comparison of the transverse sections of rosette leaves across the lamina in four lines.

    (A) From top to the bottom: wild type, ubp15-1, ubp15-2 and UBP15-overexpressing line. In each panel, two cotyledons and rosette leaves from the first to the last as well as two first cauline leaves are placed from left to the right. Arrows indicate positions of cauline leaves. Bar=1 cm.
    (B) Models demonstrate the position of transverse sections.
    (C) Comparison of adaxial epidermal cell number in transverse sections across the rosette leaves lamina. Error bars represent standard deviation of three biological repeats.


FIG. 7. Histological comparison of the transverse sections of the ninth rosette leaf middle region.

    (A) Comparison of the cell layer in transverse sections of wild type, ubp15-1, ubp15-2, UBP15-overexpressing line and ubp15 ubp16. ad, adaxial; pa, palisade; sm, spongy mesophyll; ab, abaxial; x, xylem; p, phloem. Bar=0.1 mm.
    (B) Comparison of the mid vein structure in transversal sections of wild type, ubp15-1, ubp15-2, UBP15-overexpressing line and ubp15 ubp16. Bar=0.1 mm.


FIG. 8. Real-time PCR confirm the microarray results.
7 down regulated genes and 2 up regulated genes are randomly picked for real-time PCR analysis which confirms microarray result.
FIG. 9. Characterization of the UBP16 and UBP17.

    (A) Gene structure of UBP16 (left) and UBP17 (right).
    (B) 12-d-old seedlings of wild type, ubp15-1, ubp15 ubp17, ubp15 ubp16 and ubp15 ubp16 ubp17. Bar=1 cm.
    (C) 2-month-old plants of wild type, ubp15-1, ubp15 ubp17, ubp15 ubp16 and ubp15 ubp16 ubp17. Bar=1 cm.


FIG. 10. Characterization of the UBP18 and UBP19.

    (A) Gene structure of UBP18 (up panel) and UBP19 (bottom panel).
    (B) ubp19 exhibits recessive embryo lethality. The upper silique is ubp19 Heterzygote and the lower is wild type. Arrows refer to those abnormal homozygote embryos. Bar=1 mm.
    (C) Microscopic examination of embryos of wild type (left) and ubp19 homozygote (right). ubp19 homozygote stagnates developing at global stage. Bar=20 μm.


FIG. 11. Tissue expression pattern of UBP19. The expression pattern of UBP19 was determined using PUBP19:GUS transgenic lines.

    (A) 12-d-old seedling of the PUBP19:GUS line. Bar=1 mm. Figure in the right bottom is 6 fold enlarged of the root tip region.
    (B) Mature rosette leaf of the PUBP19:GUS line. Bar=1 mm.
    (C) Inflorescence of the PUBP19:GUS line. Figure in the left bottom is 2 fold of a flower. Bar=1 mm.
    (D) Silique of the PUBP19:GUS line. Bar=1 mm.









TABLE 1







Analysis of T-DNA insertion lines for UBP genes.












Arabidopsis







Genome ID
Protein
Mutant allele
T-DNA line
Insertion site
Phenotype





At2g32780
UBP1
ubp1-2
SALK_086190
Promoter
ND


At1g04860
UBP2
ubp2-2
SALK_064103
1st exon
ND




ubp2-3
SALK_059858
1st exon
ND


At4g39910
UBP3
ubp3-1
SALK_112950
3rd exon
ND


At2g22310
UBP4
ubp4-1
SALK_043210
4th exon
ND


At2g40930
UBP5
ubp5-1
SALK_08839
5′UTR
ND


At1g51710
UBP6
ubp6-1
SALK_108832
14th intron
ND


At3g21280
UBP7
ubp7-1
SALK_014223
ND
ND


At5g22030
UBP8
ubp8-1
SALK_034744
5th intron
ND




ubp8-2
SALK_149329
6th intron
ND




ubp8-3
SALK_088692
7th exon
ND


At4g10570
UBP9
ubp9-1
SALK_141485
5′UTR
ND


At4g10590
UBP10
ubp10-1
SALK_093503
9th exon
ND


At1g32850
UBP11
ubp11-1
SALK_043515
8th intron
ND


At5g06600
UBP12

NONE




At3g11910
UBP13
ubp13-1
SALK_128312
5th exon
ND




ubp13-2
SALK_024054
6th exon
ND




ubp13-3
SALK_130784
17th exon
ND




ubp13-4
SALK_132368
21th intron
ND


At3g20630
UBP14
ubp14-3
SALK_050151
9th exon
Recessive embryo lethal




ubp14-4
SALK_012863
19th exon
Recessive embryo lethal


At1g17110
UBP15
ubp15-1
SALK_018601
12th exon
Recessive rosette leaves







narrow and serrated




ubp15-2
SALK_015611
8th exon
Recessive rosette leaves







narrow and serrated


At4g24560
UBP16
ubp16-1
SALK_023552
5th exon
ND


At5g65450
UBP17
ubp17-1
SALK_087726
9th exon
ND




ubp17-2
SALK_113300
12th exon
ND




ubp17-3
SALK_009641
8th intron
ND


At4g31670
UBP18
ubp18-1
SALK_101685
2nd intron
ND




ubp18-2
SALK_126252
4th exon
ND


At2g24640
UBP19
ubp19-1
SALK_084566
5′ UTR
Recessive embryo lethal




ubp19-2
SALK_117787
5′ UTR
ND


At4g17890
UBP20

NONE




At5g46740
UBP21
ubp21-1
SALK_079015
1st exon
ND


At5g10790
UBP22

NONE




At5g57990
UBP23
ubp23-1
SALK_121772
10th exon
ND


At4g30890
UBP24
ubp24-1
SALK_001531
3rd exon
ND


At3g14400
UBP25
ubp25-1
SALK_088458
5′ UTR
ND




ubp25-2
SALK_111336
2nd exon
ND


At3g49600
UBP26
ubp26-1
SALK_024392
4th intron
ND


At4g39370
UBP27
ubp27-1
SALK_067020
5′ UTR
ND




ubp27-2
SALK_027968
1st exon
ND





38 T-DNA knockout lines corresponding to the 24 out of 27 UBP genes are screened for their phenotype. Only 5 lines belong to 3 genes exhibit observable phenotype.













TABLE 2







Morphometric analysis of wild type, ubp15-1 mutant, and UBP15 over-expressing plants.













UBP15 over-expressing


Body parameters
Wild type
ubp15-1
plants





Number of rosette leaves
12.58 ± 0.95 (n = 26)
10.82 ± 1.36 (n = 18)
16.21 ± 1.63 (n = 26)


(LD)a


Flowering time (LD) (day)a
41.54 ± 3.79 (n = 26)
39.13 ± 2.02 (n = 46)
46.07 ± 2.37 (n = 26)


Number of rosette leaves
15.92 ± 2.11 (n = 7)
13.08 ± 1.77 (n = 7)
20.22 ± 2.66 (n = 7)


(SD)b


Flowering time (SD) (day)b
69.04 ± 1.41 (n = 8)
65.69 ± 4.66 (n = 21)
75.45 ± 4.87 (n = 8)


Fresh weight of the rosette
13.24 ± 0.48 (n = 24)
10.74 ± 0.29 (n = 40)
 15.6 ± 0.46 (n = 24)


leaves (mg/cm2)b


Silique length (cm)c
 1.36 ± 0.08 (n = 50)
 1.09 ± 0.08 (n = 50)
 1.42 ± 0.07(n = 40)


Root length (cm)d
 5.87 ± 0.75 (n = 22)
 4.64 ± 0.74 (n = 22)
 6.84 ± 0.69 (n = 26)


Primary stem length (cm)c
26.09 ± 2.68 (n = 11)
23.77 ± 2.98 (n = 15)
29.25 ± 4.44 (n = 6)


Primary stem diameter (mm)c
 0.80 ± 0.08 (n = 14)
 0.65 ± 0.09 (n = 18)
 0.98 ± 0.07 (n = 8)





aMeasurements were taken from bolting plants. Plants grow in 16 h light/8 h dark.


bMeasurements were taken from bolting plants. Plants grow in 8 h light/16 h dark.


cMeasurements were taken from plants 60 d after sowing. Plants grow in 16 h light/8 h dark.


dMeasurements were taken from plant 14 d after sowing. Plants grow in 16 h light/8 h dark.













TABLE 3







Microarray Data for Selected Genes with Various Functions











Fold
Gene Description and Putative



AGI Code
Change
Function
GO Category















Proteins related to cell cycle



At2g23430
1.72
ICK1
Negative regulation of cell division and





promoter of endoreduplication.


At1g77880
0.3
Cyclin-like F box domain




containing protein




Proteins regulating flowering


At1g26310
1.98
Floral homeotic gene CAL
Positive regulation of flower development


At5g65080
0.31
MAF5
Negative regulation of flower development,





vernalization response




Transcription factors


At1g74080
4.26
MYB122
Encodes a putative transcription factor


At3g07650
2.39
CONSTANS gene family
Negative regulation of long-day





photoperiodism, flowering


At4g17980
2.32
No apical meristem (NAM)
Transcription factor activity




family protein


At3g20810
2.05
jmjC domain-containing
Transcription factor activity




transcription factor


At3g23250
2.03
MYB15
Transcription factor activity, response to kinds





of hormone


At1g21910
1.92
ERF/AP2 transcription factor
Transcription factor activity, TINY-like protein


At2g31220
1.86
Basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH)
Transcription factor activity




family protein


At2g19810
0.56
Zinc finger (CCCH-type) family
Transcription factor activity




protein


At5g57660
0.51
B-box type zinc finger family
Transcription factor activity




protein


At1g71030
0.42
MYB family transcription factor
Transcription factor activity, response to kinds





of hormone, mainly in leaves.


At4g16780
0.42
Homeobox-leucine zipper
Transcription factor activity, response to




protein 4
cytokinin stimulus


At3g04070
0.45
No apical meristem (NAM)
Transcription factor activity




family protein




Biosynthetic metabolism


At5g38710
4.81
Proline oxidase
Glutamate biosynthesis, proline catabolic





process, located in MT


At4g21990
3.31
APS REDUCTASE 3
Sulfate assimilation, located in chloroplast


At3g12430
3.24
3′-5′ exonuclease
Nucleic binding, 3′-5′ exonuclease activity


At5g06290
2.53
2-cys peroxiredoxin
Located in chloroplast, antioxidant activity


At3g24420
2.48
Hydrolase, alpha/beta fold family
Located in endomembrane system




protein


At5g61440
2.04
Thioredoxin family protein
Thiol-disulfide exchange intermediate activity,





located in chloroplast


At1g51760
1.96
IAA-amino acid hydrolase 3
IAA-Ala conjugate hydrolase activity


At1g76130
1.92
Alpha-amylase
Carbohydrate metabolic process, located in





extracellular region


At4g19170
0.54
Putative nine-cis-
Located in plastoglobule




epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase


At5g35970
0.48
DNA helicase-like
DNA-binding protein, located in chloroplast


At1g73480
0.47
Alpha/beta fold family hydrolase
Aromatic compound metabolism, located in





chloroplast


At1g77760
0.47
Nitrate reductase 1 (NR1)


At3g49160
0.43
Pyruvate kinase-like protein
Pyruvate kinase activity, involved in glycolysis


At1g77760
0.43
Nitrate reductase
Response to light stimulus, nitric oxide





biosynthetic process


At5g24470
0.42
APRR5
Circadian rhythm, photomorphogenesis


At5g11330
0.41
Monooxygenase family protein
Electron transport, metabolic process,





Located in endomembrane system


At1g32900
0.39
Starch synthase
Transferase activity, transferring glycosyl





groups, located in chloroplast


At5g48490
0.28
Lipid transfer protein (LTP)
Lipid binding and transport, located in




family protein
endomembrane system




Polysaccharide metabolism


At5g25980
4.53
Glycosyl hydrolase family 1
Hydrolase activity, hydrolyzing O-glycosyl





compounds


At1g55850
3.57
Cellulose synthase family
Polysaccharide biosynthetic process, cell wall




protein
biosynthetic process


At3g44990
2.52
Xyloglucan: xyloglucosyl
Hydrolase activity, acting on glycosyl bonds,




transferase
located in chloroplast


At2g32290
2.3
Putative 1,4-alpha-D-glucan
Polysaccharide catabolic process




maltohydrolase


At3g21750
2.17
UDP-glucosyl transferase family
Transferring glycosyl groups




protein




Signal transduction


At5g39670
3.03
Calcium-binding EF hand family




protein


At1g14320
2.52
Wilm's tumor suppressor
Involved in translation




protein-related


At5g35735
2.04
Auxin-responsive family protein
Dopamine beta-monooxygenase activity,





located in membrane


At1g61370
2.1
S-locus lectin protein kinase
Protein amino acid phosphorylation, located in




family protein
endomembrane system


At1g51760
1.96
IAA amino acid hydrolase (IAR3)
Proteolysis, located in endomembrane system


At5g67030
0.55
Zeaxanthin epoxidase
Abscisic acid biosynthetic process


At5g45830
0.52
Tumor-related protein like


At4g12980
0.51
Auxin-responsive family
Dopamine beta-monooxygenase activity,




protein, putative
located in membrane


At4g28950
0.47
ROP GTPase gene family
Protein transport, small GTPase mediated




protein
signal transduction


At5g45820
0.26
CBL-interacting protein kinase
Kinase activity




20 (CIPK20)




Photosynthesis


At3g17040
0.5
Tetratricopeptide repeat (TPR)-
Chloroplast precursor




containing protein


At3g59400
0.37
GUN4
Chlorophyll biosynthetic process, located in





chloroplast


At1g44446
0.34
Chlorophyll a oxygenase/
Chlorophyll biosynthetic process




chlorophyll b synthase









FIG. 12. Alignment of 27 UBP proteins.
Highly conserved amino acids are shaded in black while less conserved ones are shaded in gray. Numbers above the alignment indicate the amino acid position in the consensus.
FIG. 13. Gene expression pattern of UBP15 subfamily.
Organs from 1 to 18 are cauline leaves, rosette leaves, pistil one day before pollination, pistil one day after pollination, silique 3 day after pollination, silique 8 day after pollination, stem, sepal, stamen, petal, seed, cultured cell, root dark, root white light, hypocotyl dark, hypocotyl white light, cotyledon dark and cotyledon white light.
FIG. 14. Phylogenetic Analysis of AtUBP15 subfamily and its homologues in Rice.
The Phylogenetic tree of 9 UBPs in Arabidopsis or Rice. Bootstrap values are shown in percentages at nodes.
FIG. 15. Two month old lines of wild type, two ubp15 mutants and UBP15-overexpressing line.
Two-month-old wild type, ubp15-1, ubp15-2, UBP15-overexpressing line and rescued line. Mutants are weak, with early flowering time and more secondary stems while UBP15-overexpressing line showed opposite phenotype with late flower and strong apical dominance. Bar=1 cm.
FIG. 16. Comparison of palisade cell number in transverse sections across the lamina of rosette leaf. Error bars represent standard deviation of three biological repeats.
FIG. 17. Comparison of the ninth rosette leaf of wild type and mutants as well as transgenic lines.

    (A) Mature ninth rosette leaf of wild type, ubp15-1, ubp15-2, UBP15-overexpressing line and ubp15 ubp16. Bar=1 cm.
    (B) Comparison of adaxial epidermal cell numbers of transverse sections in three regions of the ninth rosette leaf.





SUPPLEMENTAL TABLES







SUPPLEMENTAL TABLE 1





Microarray data of 27 UBP genes expression in various organs.


























Pistil one
Pistil one
Silique 3 day
Silique 8 day


Gene
gene


day after
day before
after
after


code
name
Cauline leaf
Rosette leaf
pollenation
pollenation
pollenation
pollenation





At4g10590
UBP10
253.2371134
538
318.9969539
178.5757576
209.7058824
69


At4g10570
UBP9
253.2371134
538
318.9969539
178.5757576
209.7058824
69


At1g32850
UBP11
14.17808219
19
10.58646617
12.07272727
38.05147059
14.80555556


At2g40930
UBP5
114.5257732
497.5804196
350.327381
404.625
337.3897059
70


At5g22030
UBP8
123.0618557
309.4912281
218.0594178
315.5220588
311
89.97222222


At4g30890
UBP24
248
584.2237762
655.5600733
568
736.5073529
168.5555556


At4g39910
UBP3
172.9726027
350.6993007
302.4974359
372.8897059
208.8602941
130.9722222


At2g22310
UBP4
38.41237113
66.24561404
63.11683054
48
28
22


At5g06600
UBP12
1141
1519.146853
1139.097744
599.6121212
1186.024096
247.1388889


At3g49600
UBP26
190
480.2807018
330.575188
343.5955882
313.1325301
219


At1g51710
UBP6
621
1231.754386
891.3714671
781.1764706
754.2647059
574


At3g21280
UBP7
71
292.9370629
145.1863505
160.5073529
136.1397059
107


At2g32780
UBP1
7
8.251748252
51.91666667
29.67878788
15.22058824
35


At1g04860
UBP2
211.2680412
381.2307692
367.7518797
222.8424242
306.9485294
149


At4g39370
UBP27
46.94845361
74.52631579
127.5
61.02941176
57
77.9


At5g10790
UBP22
379.1443299
600.3508772
273.7743975
238.0147059
289.1911765
91


At5g46740
UBP21
120.9278351
158.4335664
383.9718913
241.4545455
222.3897059
124.1388889


At5g57990
UBP23
491
1614.736842
1162.335897
1227.911765
1056
726.6111111


At3g14400
UBP25
407.5979381
719.3859649
611.4935415
376.2666667
496.0240964
315.4722222


At4g24560
UBP16
152.2268041
443.9440559
509.277381
546.8235294
367.1686747
142.3611111


At5g65450
UBP17
59.04123711
193.0909091
134.8794872
150.9090909
152.2058824
85


At1g17110
UBP15
711.3402062
1031.982456
1031.665293
758.0666667
845
514.7777778


At4g31670
UBP18
142
404.3356643
203.3615577
209.3308824
181.8014706
188


At2g24640
UBP19
56
222
205.9252747
238.0147059
203
84.27777778

















Gene
gene








code
name
Stem
Sepal
Stamen
Petal
Seed
Cultured cell





At4g10590
UBP10
266
504.8139535
661.641791
290
95.75543478
963.8555417


At4g10570
UBP9
266
504.8139535
661.641791
290
95.75543478
963.8555417


At1g32850
UBP11
52
91.84883721
64.74129353
134
−3.02173913
34.26132223


At2g40930
UBP5
315.9270073
246.3023256
270
798
67.02173913
1217.020979


At5g22030
UBP8
444
29.51162791
451.2704918
886.7755102
116.8865489
417.7322314


At4g30890
UBP24
646.8076923
562.5348837
707
1767.030612
191.9293478
1559.865613


At4g39910
UBP3
524.2627737
458.3953488
750.5721393
1617
68.875
1084.045697


At2g22310
UBP4
143.0192308
90.53488372
101
160
−10.30366848
65.2861244


At5g06600
UBP12
1903.386861
204.5813953
1246
2006
401.0923913
2426.601399


At3g49600
UBP26
551.4615385
195.755814
215.6721311
465.122449
213.3043478
560.5384615


At1g51710
UBP6
1669.846154
406.5465116
901
1469
394.9476902
6227.830303


At3g21280
UBP7
263.1094891
138.7674419
125
294.505102
71.46195652
274.6139657


At2g32780
UBP1
21
67.65116279
39.12935323
118
30.04415761
28.70312881


At1g04860
UBP2
324
590.1046512
639.5870647
256.4693878
261.9293478
819.7538462


At4g39370
UBP27
43
114.4302326
122.3681592
116
248.3913043
64.60289855


At5g10790
UBP22
289
409.6046512
407
834
139.798913
371.109589


At5g46740
UBP21
243.5192308
135.1860465
118.0995025
146.7091837
72.24456522
93.65178979


At5g57990
UBP23
2079.445255
431.5581395
346
929.1581633
534.28125
3446.150487


At3g14400
UBP25
697.0576923
277.3837209
758
214.0867347
207.9673913
1548.92372


At4g24560
UBP16
351.75
318.744186
454
542
93.54076087
1062.276923


At5g65450
UBP17
98.78832117
178.4767442
108.8507463
455
276.5108696
88.66155158


At1g17110
UBP15
851.6730769
379.5930233
534.2935323
207.5663265
210.125
641.6596737


At4g31670
UBP18
398.0875912
309.0348837
322
880
130.9728261
574.4164103


At2g24640
UBP19
331
172.5348837
269.6368159
547.7142857
112.7391304
556.7737557

















Gene
gene

Root white
Hypocotyl
Hypocotyl
Cotyledon
Cotyledon


code
name
Root dark
light
dark
white light
dark
white light





At4g10590
UBP10
424.8228346
438.28125
173.40625
131.5095238
393.2027027
370.7176157


At4g10570
UBP9
424.8228346
438.28125
173.40625
131.5095238
393.2027027
370.7176157


At1g32850
UBP11
51.77382175
85.8125
17.91666667
36.67142857
44.11560694
39.55357143


At2g40930
UBP5
325.4406923
344.65625
97.63541667
123.1904762
353.9322034
313.0154762


At5g22030
UBP8
279.9637111
408.21875
129.2604167
143.8857143
419.0860927
422.2265816


At4g30890
UBP24
414.0984252
531.8125
188.71875
313.3857143
467.1186441
429.1309524


At4g39910
UBP3
462.4347826
666.46875
311.2708333
294.1071429
540.1788079
598.1203056


At2g22310
UBP4
128.5507246
111.09375
20.54166667
46.95714286
62.12582781
101.2047619


At5g06600
UBP12
1517.831793
2085.65625
416.6458333
406.9738095
1479
1652.075033


At3g49600
UBP26
425.0354331
616.53125
202.71875
183.6095238
397.9595376
378.8214286


At1g51710
UBP6
1981.102362
3926.3125
569.9583333
668.4071429
889
1159.790698


At3g21280
UBP7
105.6540784
209.125
42.21875
91.56428571
131.4277457
177.4428571


At2g32780
UBP1
62.84468789
34.8125
20.13541667
28.72619048
26.65317919
26.14784053


At1g04860
UBP2
502.2960018
594.59375
183.71875
200.4095238
438.0397351
410.7517483


At4g39370
UBP27
92.94123017
106.28125
28.96875
47.19047619
109
73.32009044


At5g10790
UBP22
410.9566929
420.59375
106.6354167
127.0714286
470.7118644
562.8515873


At5g46740
UBP21
146.8093119
215.71875
63.33333333
84.58809524
145.2138728
122.7753913


At5g57990
UBP23
832.6963369
1380.65625
540.7708333
948.9547619
817.1125828
1300.761526


At3g14400
UBP25
730.0184868
1210.8125
323.5520833
322.2595238
837.2774566
704.6364653


At4g24560
UBP16
345.6990291
359.90625
148.8854167
179.4928571
431.9653179
379.5714286


At5g65450
UBP17
171.0468619
137.28125
48.69791667
90.40714286
195.8543046
184.5927003


At1g17110
UBP15
787.4924113
1596.84375
409.7291667
498.3833333
1680.243243
1613.125


At4g31670
UBP18
388.7701246
783.5625
268.8229167
230.0404762
196.7288136
236.5464286


At2g24640
UBP19
216.5870136
405.65625
110.78125
162.3714286
315.8513514
298.2021164
















SUPPLEMENTAL TABLE 2







Primers designed to identify


 the genotype of T-DNA insertion lines.








T-DNA insertion
Forward (FP) and


lines
reverse (RP) primers





SALK_086190
FP: 5′-TGCGTGAAGGAATTCAGATCCA-3′



RP: 5′-TTCAGCGTTATATCTAAAAGAATTG-3′


 


SALK_064103
FP: 5′-GCTTCGCTTACGTTATACCACGC-3′



RP: 5′-CTGAAGCCTCGGGAGTTGGTT-3′


 


SALK_059858
FP: 5′-CGGGTCTTCTCCGCTACACCT-3′



RP: 5′-CCTTTGGTGGTTGCAGATTCG-3′


 


SALK_112950
FP: 5′-TGTGCACAACACCATTTGCCT-3′



RP: 5′-TCTCTCCCTTGTGCAGGCTCTT-3′


 


SALK_043210
FP: 5′-TGTGATTGGGTTTGGTTTGGG-3′



RP: 5′-TCTCTTGACCTGCTTGGCTGA-3′


 


SALK_088398
FP: 5′-GTGCTGCTACTGCTGCTTCCC-3′



RP: 5′-CAACAGCAGCTAAATCAAAAAGG-3′


 


SALK_108832
FP: 5′-AAAATGTGGTCCAAGTGGATGG-3′



RP: 5′-TGAGAAGGAAACTCACATGACTGGA-3′


 


SALK_014223
FP: 5′-CCAATTACAGTGCGTTCCAAGC-3′



RP: 5′-TGGCCAACTTTGTTAGATGTTTCA-3′


 


SALK_034744
FP: 5′-GACCAAGGGGATTCCAAATGC-3′



RP: 5′-TTTCTGGTTGCAGGGCCAATA-3′


 


SALK_149329
FP: 5′-AGCGGGAAATCCACATATGCC-3′



RP: 5′-CCTTTCCAATGGTTTTCAGGC-3′


 


SALK_088692
FP: 5′-CGTAAGCAGCCGAGGTCTTGA-3′



RP: 5′-TCCAAGCGGTTGAATGTGCTT-3′


 


SALK_141485
FP: 5′-TGCAATGATGCTAATTGGATCAAGA-3′



RP: 5′-TTTTATTATGCTTCTGTTCCTTTTT-3′


 


SALK_093503
FP: 5′-AGCATCAGGAAGGTGGCCATT-3′



RP: 5′-TCGGTTACCATTTCCTTCCATTG-3′


 


SALK_043515
FP: 5′-CACTAGGAAACCAGTGCCTTCG-3′



RP: 5′-ACACTTTGGGCCCCTGTCACT-3′


 


SALK_128312
FP: 5′-CCCTCCACAACAGTTCCCTTG-3′



RP: 5′-TTGGAATGGAGTCAAGTTACCGC-3′


 


SALK_024054
FP: 5′-CGCACTATGAACCCCAACACC-3′



RP: 5′-GAAAGGTTGGATGCTTGTTTTG-3′


 


SALK_130784
FP: 5′-GCTTTTGTTGGAACAGATGTCAA-3′



RP: 5′-TCCTCATGTAGGAAGAGGTAGCCA-3′


 


SALK_132368
FP: 5′-CCAAGCTTCTCAGCCACCCTT-3′



RP: 5′-TGTTGGCAGGCTAATGGTGAAA-3′


 


SALK_050151
FP: 5′-GCCGAAAAGGAGTATCGTTCCA-3′



RP: 5′-CAAGGTAGATGCCATTGCCCA-3′


 


SALK_012863
FP: 5′-GGAGGCAAATTAAAAAGACAGCGA-3′



RP: 5′-ATGCACCAATCTCCCACCAGA-3′


 


SALK_018601
FP: 5′-ATGGTGAACCGGAGCTTTTCC-3′



RP: 5′-CCAGGTTAAATGCCTGAGGTGTG-3′


 


SALK_015611
FP: 5′-TCACACCTCAGGCATTTAACC-3′



RP: 5′-TTGTGGAAACAGGTATTGTCTC-3′


 


SALK_023552
FP: 5′-TACGCAAATGAAAGACCATGA-3′



RP: 5′-TGGGTTTGAGAAGCTGGTCGT-3′


 


SALK_087726
FP: 5′-GGTGAATCATATGGGTTTTGCTTT-3′



RP: 5′-TTTGAACCAATCTCCATCAAGGG-3′


 


SALK_113300
FP: 5′-TGCTTCTTTATGCAAGGTGAATGA-3′



RP: 5′-CATACTCCCTCCGTTTTCACAA-3′


 


SALK_009641
FP: 5′-AAAGGCAAGGGGAGGAGAATC-3′



RP: 5′-GAAGCTCGGGAAAATGGATGG-3′


 


SALK_101685
FP: 5′-TGAGCATCCTCCTGTCTTCCA-3′



RP: 5′-TTTTTCACATTGTTACCCAAAAA-3′


 


SALK_126252
FP: 5′-TGAGCATCCTCCTGTCTTCCA-3′



RP: 5′-TTTTTCACATTGTTACCCAAAAA-3′


 


SALK_084566
FP: 5′-TCGGCGATGGTCTCTATCGAA-3′



RP: 5′-GGTTGATAACAATTTACCAAAGTCG-3′


 


SALK_117787
FP: 5′-TGCGTGAAGGAATTCAGATCCA-3′



RP: 5′-TTCAGCGTTATATCTAAAAGAATTG-3′


 


SALK_079015
FP: 5′-TTTAAGTTTTCTAGACACTATTTTT-3′



RP: 5′-GGGAGAAAGCCGAGAGTCTGTG-3′


 


SALK_121772
FP: 5′-TGTAACCTCGATCCCTCAGCATC-3′



RP: 5′-TTGCCAAATGGGATGAGGAAA-3′


 


SALK_001531
FP: 5′-CCTTCCCAGTAACCGAGGCTCT-3′



RP: 5′-CCTTTTGTGCAGCTCCTCCAG-3′


 


SALK_088458
FP: 5′-CGGAGAAAACCAACCAAGCAA-3′



RP: 5′-ACAGCTATTGCCGGTGTAGCG-3′


 


SALK_111336
FP: 5′-TGAACGTTGCAAATTCATTCGAT-3′



RP: 5′-CCGATGCGCCTAACAAGATTTC-3′


 


SALK_024392
FP: 5′-TTGTGGAAACACCCCACAAAA-3′



RP: 5′-TTGGCTTCGTCTATGGGCTGA-3′


 


SALK_067020
FP: 5′-TTCTCAAAACATTCGCAGTGGC-3′



RP: 5′-AATAGACCGTGCTGTTGGGCA-3′


 


SALK_027968
FP: 5′-TTTCAAATCAAATAAGCTAAAAAG-3′



RP: 5′-TGGCTTGTCAAATTGAAATTTTTG-3′
















SUPPLEMENTAL TABLE 3







Transcriptome analysis of ubp15-1.













Gene Code
ID
M
W
M/W

















At1g17110
AF302665
110
1959
0.06



At1g28375
AC010155
21
221
0.09



At4g01525
AC069551
25
236
0.11



At1g14550
AC010657
32
204
0.16



At3g59970
AF181966
39
239
0.16



At5g05820.a
F15569
45
270
0.17



At3g29000
AB025615
37
209
0.18



At4g12900
AL079349
47
247
0.19



At1g38450
AC006918
50
233
0.22



At1g41720
AC006918
50
233
0.22



At2g06330
AC006918
50
233
0.22



At1g42360
AC006918
50
233
0.22



At1g42370
AC006918
50
233
0.22



At1g37160
AC006918
50
233
0.22



At5g39890
AB010077
57
256
0.22



At1g63530
AC008047
56
253
0.22



At1g71150
AC016972
55
244
0.22



At1g32060
AC074309
517
2159
0.24



At5g66990
AB026640
73
302
0.24



At1g35690
AC007887
81
322
0.25



At5g41315
AB006707
60
230
0.26



At3g02120
AC011664
76
290
0.26



At4g02240
AL096882
64
244
0.26



At5g65330
AL096882
64
244
0.26



At5g45820
AB016870
495
1874
0.26



At2g06410
AC006918
69
244
0.28



At5g48490
AB020745
2248
7953
0.28



At4g28440
AV557403
62
217
0.29



At1g62710
AF367254
85
281
0.3



At1g77880
AC009243
83
276
0.3



At1g48980
AC016041
61
203
0.3



At3g60500
AL138646
62
206
0.3



At3g01650
AC009325
71
241
0.3



At5g01600
AF326869
5374
17383
0.31



At5g16580
AB008270
72
231
0.31



At1g14500
AC012188
71
228
0.31



At5g65080
AF214485
114
363
0.31



At4g07938
AC006423
63
200
0.31



At5g02720
AL162973
66
212
0.31



At5g58830
AB016885
120
386
0.31



At1g43830
AC006423
63
200
0.31



At2g38690
AC005499
90
287
0.31



At2g02690
AC002521
64
201
0.32



At1g51960
AC006216
160
502
0.32



At1g48660
AC073555
116
364
0.32



At5g19840
AB024038
71
218
0.33



At1g65920
AC009513
123
376
0.33



At4g24080
AC002343
94
282
0.33



At3g55240
AL132954
508
1545
0.33



At1g44446
AB021316
3029
8868
0.34



At4g39090
AL035679
2180
6320
0.34



At4g38590
AL035540
74
220
0.34



At4g12440
AL049730
80
231
0.34



At4g20450
AL080253
104
308
0.34



At2g29670
AF375460
6906
19504
0.35



At4g31360
AL021633
190
547
0.35



At1g53930
AC006577
112
318
0.35



At3g63160
BE039458
1963
5579
0.35



At2g34940
AC004238
113
320
0.35



At3g26210
AB024038
515
1421
0.36



At5g44510
AB017065
73
202
0.36



At1g32810
AC006424
153
421
0.36



At4g13490.a
AA404812
4980
13728
0.36



At3g58650
AL137082
87
244
0.36



At5g62080
AB016880
81
217
0.37



At4g09930
AL049481
110
297
0.37



At1g47730
AC007519
110
296
0.37



At2g22240
U30250
235
626
0.37



At3g59400
AL356014
6379
17232
0.37



At3g01080
AC008261
102
276
0.37



At2g46590
AC006418
145
386
0.38



At4g20970
AL080282
95
248
0.39



At3g27500
AB025626
78
200
0.39



At1g17740
AB010407
105
267
0.39



At4g26460
AL022223
100
256
0.39



At5g54190
U29699
880
2255
0.39



At3g56790
AL390921
111
287
0.39



At3g46760
AL096859
80
207
0.39



At1g32900
AC006424
158
406
0.39



At5g49140
AB023028
107
268
0.4



At4g36195
AL022141
97
242
0.4



At4g35960
AL022373
96
242
0.4



At3g30130
AY046045
221
555
0.4



At1g74980
AY045856
476
1195
0.4



At1g77410
AC078898
85
214
0.4



At1g49800
AC079674
112
280
0.4



At1g28470
AV567286
152
381
0.4



At1g56350
AY046045
221
555
0.4



At2g18150
AC007212
152
383
0.4



At1g05700
AC007153
108
273
0.4



At4g29230
AL161574
126
313
0.4



At3g52040
AL049711
94
236
0.4



At1g63570
AC008047
151
378
0.4



At5g11330
AL360314
1143
2805
0.41



At3g13760
AP001307
151
368
0.41



At1g27220
AC004557
85
207
0.41



At1g04710
AC002376
144
356
0.41



At5g51670
AB025607
198
477
0.41



At1g63840
H77052
242
585
0.41



At2g31670
AV540982
214
519
0.41



At4g20380
U87834
101
247
0.41



At3g18780
U41998
687
1650
0.42



At3g03590
AC009327
190
450
0.42



At3g27160
AY039901
6880
16566
0.42



At4g16780
X68146
1165
2800
0.42



At1g56080
AC009894
115
272
0.42



At3g25080
AB026647
163
389
0.42



At3g10440
AC011560
231
555
0.42



At2g11010
AB028615
133
315
0.42



At2g46570
AC006418
84
200
0.42



At1g71030
Z68157
3598
8496
0.42



At1g41630
AC006250
238
572
0.42



At1g41600
AC006250
238
572
0.42



At1g41660
AC006250
238
572
0.42



At4g23700
AL035394
142
336
0.42



At4g10220
AF096373
89
211
0.42



At5g37230
AB017069
104
245
0.42



At5g37250
AB017069
104
245
0.42



At5g37270
AB017069
104
245
0.42



At5g03350
AL162751
2212
5268
0.42



At5g24470
AF027408
407
972
0.42



At1g79910
AC011717
104
247
0.42



At1g62690
AC007190
137
317
0.43



At5g06980
AY042849
657
1544
0.43



At1g75100
AC013258
117
271
0.43



At1g30080
AC022455
108
251
0.43



At2g35310
AC004667
171
397
0.43



At1g44542
AC084807
133
312
0.43



At1g50720
AC079027
120
276
0.43



At2g47150
AC004411
103
238
0.43



At2g46140
AC005397
112
259
0.43



At3g51150
AL132980
93
218
0.43



At3g42230
AL138645
168
390
0.43



At3g49160
AL132956
485
1128
0.43



At4g36470
AL161589
146
340
0.43



At1g36960
AC051631
86
202
0.43



At1g66100
AF380652
6908
15905
0.43



At2g47860
AC005309
117
275
0.43



At3g60570
AL138646
116
260
0.44



At1g08630
AC003981
93
213
0.44



At3g04360
AC016829
89
201
0.44



At5g26700
AF058914
111
255
0.44



At1g04570
AC002376
117
263
0.44



At2g19070
AC002392
92
206
0.44



At2g04440
AC006951
113
256
0.44



At2g41300
AC005662
107
245
0.44



At4g23970
AL078468
114
254
0.45



At1g43880
AC006423
147
331
0.45



At1g27490
AC004557
116
260
0.45



At1g65300
AC004512
106
236
0.45



At3g04070
AC011698
152
335
0.45



At1g38196
AC006423
147
331
0.45



At3g58350
AL137081
180
401
0.45



At1g80640
AC018849
96
214
0.45



At3g45390
AL132953
115
254
0.45



At1g14390
AC012188
188
407
0.46



At1g37130
AF367272
4767
10361
0.46



At5g51760
AB010074
132
289
0.46



At2g11760
AC074109
217
468
0.46



At2g12010
AC074109
217
468
0.46



At2g34980
AC004238
100
215
0.46



At5g39330
AB009054
171
370
0.46



At4g12210
AL080318
103
224
0.46



At4g12220
AL080318
103
224
0.46



At3g45650
AL138657
239
519
0.46



At5g62130
AB016880
343
745
0.46



At3g59060
AL163527
2960
6497
0.46



At1g38340
AC074109
217
468
0.46



At5g27700
AV534288
124
271
0.46



At1g38149
AC074109
217
468
0.46



At4g07733
AC074109
217
468
0.46



At3g16320
AC001645
119
260
0.46



At1g09150
AC003114
104
227
0.46



At1g20030
AC022472
330
699
0.47



At1g19010
AF360209
217
458
0.47



At2g36050
AY044326
179
381
0.47



At3g48800
AL132963
186
397
0.47



At4g00320
AL161471
202
429
0.47



At3g19050
AP000735
149
315
0.47



At5g46330
AB010698
101
216
0.47



At1g73480
AY045929
1324
2806
0.47



At1g77760
AC012193
1190
2545
0.47



At5g08480
AB006697
120
255
0.47



At3g51830
U72504
886
1904
0.47



At4g28950
AF079484
112
237
0.47



At4g18250
AL021713
116
249
0.47



At3g19700
AP000417
186
400
0.47



At3g48940
AL132967
98
207
0.47



At5g42250
AB023032
935
1961
0.48



At5g35970
AB026643
2449
5056
0.48



At1g06210
AC025290
265
546
0.48



At4g17460
U09332
2470
5158
0.48



At1g44860
AC007264
125
259
0.48



At2g10370
AC007264
125
259
0.48



At1g43740
AC009526
126
262
0.48



At1g43750
AC009526
126
262
0.48



At5g41040
AY034954
221
456
0.48



At5g04950
AB005245
161
338
0.48



At4g35820
AL031986
162
338
0.48



At5g02810
AY039943
2587
5372
0.48



At1g42400
AC007264
125
259
0.48



At2g31900
AC006533
127
261
0.48



At3g02380
AF370149
221
459
0.48



At4g27310
AL030978
621
1281
0.49



At1g76310
AC012394
245
504
0.49



At4g23520
AL031326
121
245
0.49



At3g50900
AL049862
116
238
0.49



At3g15353
AF013959
11215
22738
0.49



At1g12490
AC025416
138
282
0.49



At4g17000
AL161545
195
396
0.49



At2g15730
AC006248
139
283
0.49



At5g16190
AL391148
141
287
0.49



At3g59580
AL138659
145
298
0.49



At3g61190
AL137898
119
243
0.49



At5g53040
AB018116
108
221
0.49



At5g64170
AB008266
736
1512
0.49



At1g13650
AC027656
1432
2937
0.49



At5g10660
AL392144
125
255
0.49



At1g52300
AF370216
3677
7323
0.5



At4g29650
AL079344
247
497
0.5



At1g31300
AI995950
108
214
0.5



At4g29960
AL050352
120
238
0.5



At1g63420
AF372939
221
441
0.5



At1g61220
AV565744
174
352
0.5



At3g26610
X98130
167
337
0.5



At4g38970
AV440437
123
249
0.5



At5g42160
AB017067
129
257
0.5



At3g60380
AL138646
115
230
0.5



At4g36050
AL022373
127
251
0.5



At5g65380
AB011479
545
1080
0.5



At5g03090
AL163002
472
950
0.5



At1g80310
AC018848
740
1489
0.5



At3g17040
AB026636
1749
3490
0.5



At3g44530
AL353818
170
339
0.5



At1g17990
AF344314
1752
3437
0.51



At5g64840
AB019236
3117
6109
0.51



At1g64740
M21414
1506
2968
0.51



At2g43040
AC006224
188
371
0.51



At5g57660
AB018118
6011
11797
0.51



At3g20540
AP000410
219
432
0.51



At5g39865
AB010077
136
268
0.51



At5g17300
AB005238
211
412
0.51



At1g18020
AF344314
1752
3437
0.51



At1g50910
AC079284
261
513
0.51



At5g51440
AB025621
184
363
0.51



At2g06880.a
AF147259
117
230
0.51



At3g32020.b
AF147259
117
230
0.51



At4g07730.a
AF147259
117
230
0.51



At2g03200
AC005313
159
312
0.51



At3g60870
AL162295
234
458
0.51



At3g50800
AL049862
131
259
0.51



At5g41830
AB016871
339
668
0.51



At5g53310
AF361603
583
1145
0.51



At4g12980
AL079349
2345
4580
0.51



At2g30730
AC002340
178
350
0.51



At3g52270
AL132972
135
265
0.51



At3g21080
AP000604
172
336
0.51



At2g30510
AF181683
3085
6075
0.51



NoAnno
AA585895
189
364
0.52



At2g34480
AY042803
2958
5666
0.52



At1g06450
AC007592
229
437
0.52



At5g52020
AB015478
104
200
0.52



At1g62060
X91954
145
279
0.52



At2g13690
AC006436
107
205
0.52



At1g20780
AC069251
379
729
0.52



At3g17930
AY039550
1550
2953
0.52



At3g54590
AP002543
190
364
0.52



At4g08410
AP002543
190
364
0.52



At5g06640
AP002543
190
364
0.52



At2g44470
AC004521
114
219
0.52



At1g34740
AC007894
113
219
0.52



At1g52020
AC007894
113
219
0.52



At2g14770
AC007894
113
219
0.52



At3g24390
AC007894
113
219
0.52



At3g42730
AC007894
113
219
0.52



At4g05280
AC007894
113
219
0.52



At5g36860
AC007894
113
219
0.52



At1g21940
AC013482
128
248
0.52



At1g34290
AC007454
110
213
0.52



At1g62000
X91954
145
279
0.52



At1g62080
X91954
145
279
0.52



At3g06020
AC013454
171
328
0.52



At1g17390
AC007843
254
492
0.52



At2g05560
AC007894
113
219
0.52



At1g68850
AC011914
144
276
0.52



At1g73600
AC079676
6072
11568
0.52



At2g05130
AB015477
113
217
0.52



At1g04380
AC000104
119
227
0.52



At4g04710
AB015477
113
217
0.52



At1g25886
AC007894
113
219
0.52



At4g03300
AC007894
113
219
0.52



At4g08880
AC007894
113
219
0.52



At4g08400
AP002543
190
364
0.52



At4g10710
AF080119
208
402
0.52



At3g43990
AB015477
113
217
0.52



At5g34940
AA586196
211
403
0.52



At3g54500
AL138656
183
350
0.52



At3g27560
X92728
167
323
0.52



At5g16030
AL391145
7145
13777
0.52



At3g25960
AB023041
434
835
0.52



At2g16980
AC002354
204
389
0.52



At4g10670
AF080119
208
402
0.52



At1g61500
AC005850
247
475
0.52



At5g45830
AB016870
306
590
0.52



At5g35520
AB015477
113
217
0.52



At3g54860
AL049655
130
247
0.52



At1g31710
AC074360
240
449
0.53



At2g21110
AC006264
117
219
0.53



At5g60390
AF360167
7372
13840
0.53



At5g44220
AB005239
225
423
0.53



At3g57160
AL138655
194
362
0.53



At1g11620
AC007296
128
239
0.53



At4g14450
AF067468
114
213
0.53



At2g42340
AC005956
162
304
0.53



At3g21670
AF372959
748
1399
0.53



At1g54300.a
AC005287
174
327
0.53



At2g02850
AC004138
129
246
0.53



At2g26690
AC003105
2529
4731
0.53



At4g17910
AP002057
118
222
0.53



At3g58340
AL137081
131
248
0.53



At4g24480
AL078637
191
362
0.53



At2g29000
AC005315
124
236
0.53



At5g45810
AB016870
272
514
0.53



At2g18000
AC006201
123
233
0.53



At2g25260
AC007070
232
437
0.53



NoAnno
AI099709
159
295
0.54



At4g19170
AL021687
1362
2532
0.54



At1g10610
AC007067
221
412
0.54



At5g05690
X87368
2014
3720
0.54



At1g51480
AB026651
186
343
0.54



At5g43730
AB026651
186
343
0.54



At1g37040
AC020646
158
292
0.54



At2g04770
AC020646
158
292
0.54



At2g38320
AF370310
200
371
0.54



At4g37550
AY045895
1113
2075
0.54



At1g49090
AC020646
158
292
0.54



At5g03415
AJ294532
249
458
0.54



At5g16700
AL391147
182
337
0.54



At1g20390
AC027665
185
340
0.54



At1g77150
AV544954
127
236
0.54



At1g77170
AV544954
127
236
0.54



At1g68870
AC011914
438
804
0.54



At3g43210
AL353871
174
326
0.54



At3g05880
AC012393
7580
14042
0.54



At5g20410
AJ000331
111
205
0.54



At2g24430
AC006403
157
292
0.54



At1g26800.a
AC006535
155
288
0.54



At1g73660.a
BE037745
371
684
0.54



At1g64860
AB004821
2996
5515
0.54



At5g34810
AL161499
222
411
0.54



At5g30480
AC020646
158
292
0.54



At3g01120
AF039206
227
417
0.54



At5g53260
AB013388
128
236
0.54



At4g04130
AL161499
222
411
0.54



At5g62780
AB009053
150
278
0.54



At3g22060
AY034900
1041
1922
0.54



At1g62070
AC000375
336
620
0.54



At1g06570
AF000228
713
1301
0.55



At4g01740
AL161492
182
333
0.55



At5g18620
U95990
188
344
0.55



At3g26190
AB024038
218
394
0.55



At3g61580
AJ224161
139
250
0.55



At4g12010
AL049638
199
360
0.55



At2g37640
AC004684
134
245
0.55



At1g26390
AC013427
174
317
0.55



At1g26400
AC013427
174
317
0.55



At1g26420
AC013427
174
317
0.55



At2g28440
AC006283
190
345
0.55



At4g18110
AL110123
143
262
0.55



At1g70260
AC002062
176
319
0.55



At1g58310
AC008051
117
212
0.55



At3g13229
AB024034
190
345
0.55



At3g12440
AC069474
145
263
0.55



At3g31930
AP001301
217
394
0.55



At2g20740
AC006234
150
272
0.55



At1g26810
AC006535
166
302
0.55



At1g47790
AC012463
302
545
0.55



At1g47560
AC007519
149
273
0.55



At4g14790.a
AJ132843
250
453
0.55



At3g62260
AL138651
180
327
0.55



At3g32091
BE521910
134
244
0.55



At3g44720
AC002534
126
227
0.55



At2g34320
AC004481
156
284
0.55



At4g34840
AL079347
109
201
0.55



At3g61750
AL132959
176
318
0.55



At5g39530
AA395409
5835
10560
0.55



At5g26840
AL132976
5258
9555
0.55



At2g23330
AC002391
284
519
0.55



At2g11680
AC007187
165
298
0.55



At3g54210
AL132957
5028
9190
0.55



At5g49050
AB017061
151
273
0.55



At5g67030
AB030296
3968
7179
0.55



At1g28300
AC021044
127
229
0.56



At1g07180
AC067971
774
1388
0.56



At2g28580
AC007171
178
319
0.56



At5g16440
AF188067
218
390
0.56



At2g19810
AC005169
516
927
0.56



At5g44690
AB016874
140
251
0.56



At4g17720
AL161547
639
1148
0.56



At5g10220
AY014798
487
272
1.79



At4g20990
AL080282
306
171
1.79



At4g12290
AL080318
1516
845
1.79



At3g04640
AC011437
1081
604
1.79



At3g19280
AP000419
835
465
1.79



At1g11170
AC007259
370
207
1.79



At1g55550
AC005223
319
178
1.79



At2g30400
U93215
311
174
1.79



At3g56400
AY039933
14429
8054
1.79



At1g76960
AF370567
591
328
1.8



At2g22790
AC005617
228
127
1.8



At1g52620
AC008016
678
377
1.8



At1g68570
AC008075
857
475
1.8



At3g43250
AL353871
211
117
1.8



At4g27900
AL035524
1215
676
1.8



At2g17190
AF360159
250
139
1.8



At4g23240
AL022347
415
231
1.8



At4g23320
AL022347
415
231
1.8



At4g23290
AL022347
415
231
1.8



At3g13010
AC024128
230
127
1.81



At4g10340
AF134129
6930
3820
1.81



At4g31630
AL031004
213
118
1.81



At5g56840
AB013392
502
278
1.81



At1g55490
AF386945
22830
12641
1.81



At3g02470
AY042824
24562
13607
1.81



At1g74310
U13949
663
365
1.82



At2g36980
AC006922
398
219
1.82



At3g17360
AB022216
296
163
1.82



At1g17150
AC007651
210
115
1.82



At4g30500
AL161577
708
388
1.82



At5g62690
M84701
554
304
1.82



At5g62700
M84701
554
304
1.82



At3g17790
AJ133747
537
294
1.83



At3g23690
AP000377
17759
9687
1.83



At3g12500
AC069474
264
144
1.83



At4g38970
AL035679
11816
6462
1.83



At1g71250
AC016162
263
144
1.83



At5g53420
AB020754
563
307
1.83



At1g70760
AC011663
236
129
1.83



At1g29600
AC068667
226
123
1.83



At5g37770
AB016873
7766
4226
1.84



At1g75950
AF059294
514
280
1.84



At1g78980
AC002986
231
126
1.84



At2g28040
AC005851
292
158
1.84



At3g01350
AC010676
345
187
1.84



At3g59630
AL138659
309
168
1.84



At1g09340
AY035050
18319
9954
1.84



At4g18100
AL110123
25024
13606
1.84



At4g23310
AL022347
225
123
1.84



At2g26840
AC005168
678
369
1.84



NoAnno
F15338
312
169
1.85



At1g02400
AC064879
297
161
1.85



At2g48090
AC006072
258
140
1.85



At5g39610
AB012243
263
142
1.85



At2g31220
AC006593
477
257
1.86



At2g24300
AC006403
205
110
1.86



At5g42500
AB016888
256
137
1.86



At3g01570
AC009325
426
229
1.86



At3g05710
AJ245408
257
139
1.86



At1g07470
X98861
13725
7392
1.86



At1g07480
X98861
13725
7392
1.86



At3g14620
AB023038
519
277
1.87



At1g67920
AC012563
291
156
1.87



At1g68590
AC008075
19955
10683
1.87



At5g45850
AB016870
8826
4711
1.87



At3g62550
AY035146
23437
12503
1.87



At5g67250
AF263378
17304
9265
1.87



At2g43670
AC002333
203
108
1.88



At1g56040
AC009894
492
261
1.88



At4g05180
AF372897
5948
3170
1.88



At3g08940
AF134127
17812
9497
1.88



At5g35340
AF058826
232
123
1.88



At4g20370
AB027506
233
124
1.88



NoAnno
M63234
207
110
1.89



At4g20950
AL080282
277
147
1.89



At1g31630
AC074360
573
302
1.89



At1g33070
AC074360
573
302
1.89



At4g12800
AJ245867
5393
2859
1.89



At5g14840
AL080282
277
147
1.89



At5g15240
AL353993
474
251
1.89



At4g34190
AF133716
18097
9574
1.89



At4g32260
AY042873
15062
7907
1.9



At2g43790
AV558477
440
232
1.9



At3g01440
AC010870
5091
2683
1.9



At1g02200
U40489
5410
2841
1.9



At3g22120
AF104328
22876
12056
1.9



At2g20880
AC006234
332
174
1.91



At1g31940
AC079041
207
108
1.91



At1g32470
AF385740
18411
9658
1.91



At4g08730
AL161512
403
211
1.91



At3g44320
X63445
22225
11646
1.91



At3g44300
X63445
22225
11646
1.91



At3g44310
X63445
22225
11646
1.91



At5g24210
AB006701
2109
1105
1.91



At3g16640
AY045802
1511
792
1.91



At1g76130
AC009978
868
451
1.92



At1g51140
AY034941
891
463
1.92



At1g74980
AY045856
17627
9200
1.92



At1g27270
AC004557
224
117
1.92



At1g05880
AC009999
279
146
1.92



At4g02770
AF389290
8820
4595
1.92



At1g27980
AF360166
961
499
1.92



At1g21910
AC013482
2917
1523
1.92



At5g58570
AY045817
656
339
1.93



At4g36510
AL161589
207
107
1.93



At3g58380
AL137081
266
138
1.93



At3g12810
AB024033
207
107
1.93



At2g28340
AC006283
417
215
1.94



At4g03890
AL161498
298
153
1.94



At4g02250
AL161494
201
104
1.94



NoAnno
F15136
271
139
1.95



At5g02260
AL162874
306
157
1.95



At1g30060
AC022455
303
156
1.95



At2g38140
AC003028
12398
6316
1.96



At1g25988
AC084221
235
120
1.96



At1g51760
Y13577
208
106
1.96



At2g14990
AL161509
252
129
1.96



At2g46870
AC004411
19086
9748
1.96



At2g14970
AF262043
16604
8412
1.97



At1g58290
AC008051
15587
7898
1.97



At4g16080
AL161543
703
357
1.97



At5g02520
AL162971
202
103
1.97



At4g08060
AF262043
16604
8412
1.97



At3g27860
AP000371
270
137
1.97



At1g64670
AC009519
239
121
1.98



At1g26310
AF061410
275
139
1.98



At5g38730
AB011478
307
155
1.98



At1g23205
AC002311
2171
1098
1.98



At4g04640
M61741
8213
4124
1.99



At1g52220
AC022354
21605
10842
1.99



At4g02870
AL161495
273
137
1.99



At1g34740
AF104920
212
107
1.99



At2g05560
AF104920
212
107
1.99



At2g14770
AF104920
212
107
1.99



At3g24390
AF104920
212
107
1.99



At3g42730
AF104920
212
107
1.99



At4g08880
AF104920
212
107
1.99



At5g36860
AF104920
212
107
1.99



At4g24570
AY042859
3564
1794
1.99



At1g52020
AF104920
212
107
1.99



At3g15720
AB017071
423
212
1.99



At1g25886
AF104920
212
107
1.99



At3g43390
AF104920
212
107
1.99



At4g03300
AF104920
212
107
1.99



At4g05280
AF104920
212
107
1.99



At3g28610
AP000420
205
103
1.99



At3g09440
Y17053
3577
1784
2



At1g30250
AC073506
6659
3331
2



At5g36960
AB016877
271
135
2.01



At2g37220
AY048251
14320
7098
2.02



At1g71691
AC012654
288
142
2.02



At2g31980
AC006223
211
105
2.02



At2g27400
AC006233
313
154
2.03



At1g11260
X55350
17446
8597
2.03



At3g23250
Y14207
215
106
2.03



At5g53490
AF370552
19631
9694
2.03



At2g33830
AB050786
14290
7021
2.04



At4g14950
AV537413
254
124
2.04



At1g22270
AC068562
290
142
2.04



At5g35735
AF372955
4539
2220
2.04



At2g15960
AC006438
23165
11339
2.04



At2g36800
AC006282
584
287
2.04



At5g61440
AF144389
6829
3348
2.04



At1g10040
AC004122
352
173
2.04



At3g20810
AB025629
4866
2370
2.05



At2g42730
AC006931
248
121
2.05



At3g47960
AF370202
5950
2905
2.05



At2g01600
AV541295
265
129
2.06



At3g07480
AF386949
267
130
2.06



At1g56070
AC009894
26599
12925
2.06



At2g43940
AC004005
607
294
2.06



At4g04610
U53864
1154
559
2.07



At3g13340
AY048298
1955
945
2.07



At5g59220
AB016890
282
137
2.07



At2g28960
AC005315
231
112
2.07



At2g19350
AC003058
210
101
2.08



At1g21960
AC013482
298
144
2.08



At2g30860
AF372905
25890
12409
2.09



At2g45350
AC002387
585
280
2.09



At5g37640
L05363
11449
5488
2.09



At4g05320
L05363
11449
5488
2.09



At4g05050
L05363
11449
5488
2.09



At5g20620
L05363
11449
5488
2.09



At5g03240
L05363
11449
5488
2.09



At3g09790
L05363
11449
5488
2.09



At1g65350
L05363
11449
5488
2.09



At1g55060
L05363
11449
5488
2.09



At3g62250
L05363
11449
5488
2.09



At4g02890
L05363
11449
5488
2.09



At4g16690
AL161544
1258
601
2.1



At1g08640
AF370182
372
178
2.1



At2g02815
AF175994
283
134
2.1



At3g62150
AL138651
293
140
2.1



At1g56430
AC058785
641
306
2.1



At1g61370
AC004255
444
211
2.1



At3g24100
AF370331
463
220
2.1



At4g02140
AL161493
252
119
2.11



At3g46190
AL355775
210
100
2.11



At3g56260
AL163763
349
166
2.11



At2g21170
AF247559
20479
9650
2.12



At1g80280
AV547254
221
104
2.12



At3g21760
AF372973
1223
575
2.13



At1g14600
AC010657
413
193
2.14



At3g15650
AB017071
416
194
2.14



At2g25510
AC006300
14882
6928
2.15



At4g11440
AL050399
402
187
2.15



At5g03000
AL163002
249
116
2.15



At1g50560
AC012561
241
111
2.16



At3g04120
AC016829
19007
8803
2.16



At5g26000
AY045681
4323
1999
2.16



At1g15620
AC013453
277
128
2.16



At1g65400
AF325110
2725
1260
2.16



At1g55290
AC027034
243
112
2.16



At1g50540
AC012561
241
111
2.16



At3g46890
AL096859
16966
7863
2.16



At1g61400
AC004255
248
115
2.16



At1g61430
AC004255
248
115
2.16



At1g61440
AC004255
248
115
2.16



NoAnno
AF003102
550
254
2.17



At3g47470
M63931
5758
2649
2.17



At4g01530
AL161492
212
98
2.17



At3g21750
AB025634
825
381
2.17



At2g18120
AC007212
258
119
2.17



At4g22020
AJ002892
3194
1468
2.18



At1g21310
AB031821
278
128
2.18



At1g49490
AJ002892
3194
1468
2.18



At4g27440
AY042883
279
128
2.18



At3g46250
AL355775
207
95
2.18



At2g40200
AF085279
212
97
2.19



At4g01310
AL161491
15461
7075
2.19



At5g65980
AB011474
204
93
2.19



At3g63290
AV543251
247
113
2.19



At5g27280
AF007271
303
139
2.19



At4g35100
AY049238
16586
7554
2.2



At2g22760
AC005617
203
92
2.2



At2g45960
AY049238
16586
7554
2.2



At2g16850
AY049238
16586
7554
2.2



At2g39310
AC004697
205
93
2.2



At3g61430
AY049238
16586
7554
2.2



At4g19700
AL024486
975
443
2.2



At2g14800
AC004705
483
219
2.21



At2g03020
AC004138
362
164
2.21



At3g60810
AL162295
261
118
2.21



At3g52145
AI995315
206
93
2.22



At2g16600
U40399
24863
11149
2.23



At2g30570
U93215
8840
3958
2.23



At3g53420
AY039579
20978
9407
2.23



At5g13510
AL391710
21808
9770
2.23



At4g35450
U70425
19189
8562
2.24



At3g61700
AV557897
238
106
2.24



At5g66570
AF372898
8498
3775
2.25



At2g46330
AC006526
18763
8298
2.26



At5g06540
AP002543
307
136
2.26



At3g15530
AC024081
1342
592
2.27



At1g20300
AC026234
653
286
2.28



At2g27385
AV531683
327
144
2.28



NoAnno
AF360265
27827
12129
2.29



At1g75350
AF370226
16420
7163
2.29



At1g30260
AC073506
4248
1858
2.29



At2g32290
AC005700
434
189
2.3



At3g46430
AL133298
19794
8588
2.3



At4g16370
AL161543
3197
1382
2.31



At1g44810
AY042861
277
120
2.32



At4g17980
AL021889
357
154
2.32



At5g52050
AB015478
478
205
2.33



At3g50820
AJ145957
16012
6873
2.33



At5g42900
AB008264
7894
3370
2.34



At4g30750
AY037251
209
89
2.36



At2g31920
AC006533
210
89
2.36



At2g01300
AC006200
1094
461
2.37



At5g08280
X73535
25523
10707
2.38



At5g62300
AF370460
27616
11598
2.38



At5g50610
AB025619
222
93
2.38



At5g50710
AB025619
222
93
2.38



At3g07650
AC009176
4686
1965
2.39



At5g11780
AL163814
274
114
2.39



At4g32430
AL034567
394
164
2.4



At5g02500
X74604
20275
8429
2.41



At3g54890
AF326866
9157
3789
2.42



At3g59340
AF370505
692
284
2.43



At1g79850
Z11151
830
339
2.45



At2g21660
AY042826
613
250
2.45



At2g39320
AC004697
773
316
2.45



At2g21420
AC006841
260
106
2.45



At4g36010
AF360165
958
388
2.47



At4g13940
AF325037
26706
10790
2.48



At1g32080
AC084165
20969
8468
2.48



At4g01260
AL161491
227
91
2.48



At4g31830
AL049607
292
118
2.48



At3g24420
AP000382
8999
3623
2.48



At2g28900
AY045593
21483
8645
2.49



At1g63820
AC010852
214
86
2.5



At5g16400
AF144386
19378
7696
2.52



At1g14320
AY045866
22985
9128
2.52



At1g27710
AC012375
213
85
2.52



At1g75690
AC006434
24943
9882
2.52



At3g44990
X92975
865
343
2.52



At5g06290
AF326871
22183
8782
2.53



At3g15630
AB017071
22541
8902
2.53



At5g01100
AL137189
595
235
2.53



At1g73810
AC012679
279
110
2.54



At5g14610
AL163792
30717
12004
2.56



At5g42530
AB016888
7812
3054
2.56



At2g28800
U89272
22626
8809
2.57



At2g36970
AC006922
308
120
2.57



At1g77110
AC002291
255
99
2.58



At1g28410
AC010155
257
99
2.6



At1g32990
AF325023
20190
7763
2.6



At5g63580
AB005234
209
80
2.62



At2g21800
AC007019
204
78
2.63



At2g33450
AC002332
25052
9518
2.63



At2g23910
AC005170
699
266
2.63



At2g19150
AC002392
206
78
2.64



At5g23660
AF095641
2931
1106
2.65



At3g21470
AB019232
401
151
2.66



At5g13630
Z68495
21783
8155
2.67



At2g42220
AY045616
20113
7535
2.67



At2g03190
AC005313
206
77
2.68



At1g44880
AC020576
245
91
2.68



At2g10350
AC020576
245
91
2.68



At4g03970
AC020576
245
91
2.68



At3g42530
AC020576
245
91
2.68



At3g01310
AC010676
212
79
2.68



At3g45680
AL157735
258
95
2.72



At3g45690
AL157735
258
95
2.72



At2g10940
AC006429
8529
3119
2.73



At5g46110
AY037211
7130
2614
2.73



At2g41430
AC004625
8374
3041
2.75



At1g48300
AC007932
2604
935
2.78



At1g28760
AC007508
310
111
2.8



At1g44040
AC022314
360
129
2.8



At1g08790
AC003981
277
99
2.81



At5g63090
AB008265
223
80
2.81



At3g49910
AF370158
22291
7877
2.83



At3g12840
AB024033
220
77
2.84



At2g29280
AC004561
496
175
2.84



At1g12610
AC025417
293
103
2.85



At2g28460
AC006587
256
89
2.86



At2g38240
AC003028
282
98
2.87



At2g05070
AY045787
20173
6958
2.9



At2g05100
AY045787
20173
6958
2.9



At4g25050
T45818
15045
5121
2.94



At4g10260
AL049488
309
105
2.94



At1g49500
AF370563
22168
7513
2.95



At5g58310
AB019228
1438
487
2.95



At3g45520
AL161500
215
72
2.97



At4g04380
AL161500
215
72
2.97



At3g25290
AB026647
307
103
2.99



At3g01500
AC009325
616
205
3



At4g24420
AL078637
202
67
3



At3g43600
AB005805
19762
6576
3.01



At5g11370
AL360314
236
78
3.01



At2g28000
AC006929
27972
9297
3.01



At5g39670
AB012243
291
96
3.03



At5g24780
AF386930
375
123
3.05



At1g23310
AF360195
31336
10247
3.06



At2g34420
X64460
7379
2403
3.07



At3g21640
AJ224640
20590
6686
3.08



At5g15960
X55053
22316
7183
3.11



At5g15970
X55053
22316
7183
3.11



At3g01600
AC009325
233
75
3.11



At4g32540
AL050398
303
97
3.12



At2g11820
AB047398
207
66
3.12



At4g17350
AL161546
215
69
3.13



At1g04270
AY048221
22066
7025
3.14



At2g17180
AC007127
345
109
3.15



At4g21280
AL021960
7348
2313
3.18



At3g53290
AL132958
228
71
3.2



At5g44980
AB010693
210
65
3.22



At2g30950
AF135189
29571
9161
3.23



At3g12430
AC069474
270
83
3.24



At4g32490
AL034567
261
81
3.25



At1g69990
AC002062
249
76
3.26



At5g05250
AB010692
1176
358
3.28



At3g56360
AL163972
1291
391
3.3



At1g72150
AY045913
24133
7291
3.31



At4g21990
U53865
1684
509
3.31



At2g30840
AC004669
308
93
3.32



At1g41810
AC022456
240
71
3.37



At5g29090
AC022456
240
71
3.37



At5g32610
AC022456
240
71
3.37



At3g59170
AL356014
217
64
3.41



At5g37470
AP000607
223
65
3.45



At2g25040.a
AV558611
287
83
3.46



At3g32370.a
AV558611
287
83
3.46



At5g37300
AB017069
753
217
3.48



At4g22214
AL021712
256
73
3.51



At1g48700
AC073555
275
78
3.52



At1g55850
AC002304
267
75
3.57



At1g04920
AC004809
362
99
3.64



At4g03280
AJ243702
1486
400
3.71



At1g35660.a
AC007887
203
55
3.73



At4g27110
AL035680
201
51
3.9



At2g04820
AC006955
341
85
4.01



At1g75910
AC007396
205
51
4.04



At3g21980
AB028622
215
52
4.15



At3g27830
AP000371
25310
6009
4.21



At1g74080
AC016662
352
83
4.26



At2g17850
AC003952
277
65
4.29



At2g45570
AC003680
251
58
4.33



At3g56040
AV548493
280
62
4.49



At5g25980
AF360348
28538
6306
4.53



At3g43580
AL391734
222
48
4.61



At5g38710
AB011478
376
78
4.81



At3g12760
AB024033
271
50
5.41



At1g32920.a
BE522104
235
28
8.35







W, wild type;



M, mutant.






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## Claims

1. A method for altering plant growth, comprising introducing and expressing in a plant a nucleic acid encoding a plant UBiquitin-Specific Protease 15 (UBP15) polypeptide comprising the following motifs:
(i) a Cysteine box (Cys box);
(ii) a Histidine box (His box); and
(iii) a ZnMYND zinc finger domain,
wherein said nucleic acid is selected from the group consisting of:
(a) a nucleic acid comprising the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1;
(b) a nucleic acid encoding a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2; and
(c) a nucleic acid encoding a polypeptide having at least 95% sequence identity to the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2, wherein said polypeptide has de-ubiquitination activity in vitro,
and wherein said plant has one or more of the following: increased number of rosette leaves, increased flowering time, increased fresh weight of rosette leaves, increased silique length, increased root length, increased primary stem length, and/or increased primary stem diameter relative to a control plant.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said nucleic acid is operably linked to a constitutive promoter.

3. A plant having increased number of rosette leaves, increased flowering time, increased fresh weight of rosette leaves, increased silique length, increased root length, increased primary stem length, and/or increased primary stem diameter relative to a control plant, wherein the increased number of rosette leaves, increased flowering time, increased fresh weight of rosette leaves, increased silique length, increased root length, increased primary stem length, and/or increased primary stem diameter is obtained by the method of claim 1.

4. A construct comprising:
(i) a nucleic acid encoding a plant UBiquitin-Specific Protease 15 (UBP15) polypeptide comprising the following motifs:
a) a Cysteine box (Cys box);
b) a Histidine box (His box); and
c) a ZnMYND zinc finger domain,
wherein said nucleic acid is selected from the group consisting of:
(a) a nucleic acid comprising the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1;
(b) a nucleic acid encoding a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2; and
(c) a nucleic acid encoding a polypeptide having at least 95% sequence identity to the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2, wherein said polypeptide has de-ubiquitination activity in vitro;

(ii) one or more heterologous control sequences capable of driving expression of the nucleic acid of (i); and optionally
(iii) a transcription termination sequence,
wherein expression of said nucleic acid in a plant confers one or more of the following: increased number of rosette leaves, increased flowering time, increased fresh weight of rosette leaves, increased silique length, increased root length, increased primary stem length, and/or increased primary stem diameter relative to a control plant.

5. The construct of claim 4, wherein one of said heterologous control sequences is a constitutive promoter.

6. A method for making a plant having altered growth relative to a control plant, comprising transforming a plant cell with the construct of claim 4 and regenerating a plant from the plant cell, wherein said plant has increased expression of said nucleic acid and has one or more of the following: increased number of rosette leaves, increased flowering time, increased fresh weight of rosette leaves, increased silique length, increased root length, increased primary stem length, and/or increased primary stem diameter relative to a control plant.

7. A method for the production of a transgenic plant having altered growth relative to a control plant, comprising:
(i) introducing and expressing in a plant or plant cell a nucleic acid encoding a plant UBiquitin-Specific Protease 15 (UBP15) comprising the following motifs:
(a) a Cysteine box (Cys box);
(b) a Histidine box (His box); and
(c) a ZnMYND zinc finger domain;

and
(ii) cultivating the plant or plant cell under conditions promoting plant growth and development,
wherein said nucleic acid is selected from the group consisting of:
(a) a nucleic acid comprising the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1;
(b) a nucleic acid encoding a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2; and
(c) a nucleic acid encoding a polypeptide having at least 95% sequence identity to the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2, wherein said polypeptide has de-ubiquitination activity in vitro,
wherein said plant or plant cell has increased expression of said nucleic acid,
and wherein said plant has one or more of the following: increased number of rosette leaves, increased flowering time, increased fresh weight of rosette leaves, increased silique length, increased root length, increased primary stem length, and/or increased primary stem diameter relative to a control plant.

8. A transgenic plant having an increase in one or more of rosette leaves, flowering time, fresh weight of rosette leaves, silique length, root length, primary stem length, and/or primary stem diameter relative to a control plant, wherein said increase results from introducing and expressing in said plant a nucleic acid encoding a plant UBP15 polypeptide comprising:
(a) a Cysteine box (Cys box);
(b) a Histidine box (His box); and
(c) a ZnMYND zinc finger domain,
wherein said nucleic acid is selected from the group consisting of:
(a) a nucleic acid comprising the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1;
(b) a nucleic acid encoding a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2; and
(c) a nucleic acid encoding a polypeptide having at least 95% sequence identity to the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2, wherein said polypeptide has de-ubiquitination activity in vitro.

9. The plant of claim 3, wherein said plant is a crop plant.

10. Harvestable parts of the plant of claim 9, wherein said harvestable parts comprise the nucleic acid encoding the UBP15 polypeptide, and wherein said harvestable parts comprise shoot biomass and/or seeds.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said nucleic acid encoding a plant UBP15 polypeptide is from a dicotyledonous plant.

12. The plant of claim 3, wherein said plant is rice, maize, wheat, barley, millet, rye, triticale, sorghum, or oats.

13. A plant, plant part, plant cell, or progeny thereof comprising the construct of claim 4, wherein the plant, a plant generated from the plant part or plant cell, or the progeny has one or more of the following: increased number of rosette leaves, increased flowering time, increased fresh weight of rosette leaves, increased silique length, increased root length, increased primary stem length, and/or increased primary stem diameter relative to a control plant.

14. The plant of claim 3, wherein said plant is a monocot.

15. The plant of claim 3, wherein said plant is a cereal.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein said nucleic acid comprises the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 or encodes a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2.

17. The construct of claim 4, wherein said nucleic acid comprises the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 or encodes a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2.

18. The method of claim 7, wherein said nucleic acid comprises the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 or encodes a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2.

19. The transgenic plant of claim 8, wherein said nucleic acid comprises the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 or encodes a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2.

20. A plant part or seed of the plant of claim 3, wherein said plant part or seed comprises the nucleic acid encoding the UBP15 polypeptide.