Patent ID: 7566815

Claim:
A method for promoting flowering of a rice plant, wherein the method comprises introducing an isolated nucleic acid into the plant, wherein the nucleic acid inhibits the expression of the rice PHYC gene of SEQ ID NO:17, thereby promoting flowering of the plant, and is: (a) an antisense nucleic acid selected from the group consisting of: (i) the antisense nucleic acid that is complementary to the rice PHYC gene of SEQ ID NO:17 transcript; and (ii) an antisense nucleic acid that is the complement of a nucleic acid that is 95% identical to the rice PHYC gene of SEQ ID NO:17 transcript; or (b) a nucleic acid that inhibits a rice plant phyC gene expression through co-suppression selected from the group consisting of: (i) an isolated rice PHYC gene of SEQ ID NO:17; and (ii) a nucleic acid that is at least 95% identical to the rice PHYC gene of SEQ ID NO:17.