Patent ID: 8420890

Claim:
A transgenic plant having a reduced level of endogenous NAP protein capable of causing leaf senescence in a plant, compared to that of a non-transgenic plant, wherein the transgenic plant displays a delayed leaf senescence phenotype relative to a non-transgenic plant, and wherein the plant is transformed with a nucleic acid construct comprising: a nucleic acid molecule encoding a NAP protein having the amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 1, SEQ ID NO: 2, SEQ ID NO: 3, SEQ ID NO: 4, SEQ ID NO: 5, SEQ ID NO: 6, SEQ ID NO: 7, SEQ ID NO: 8, SEQ ID NO: 9, SEQ ID NO: 10, SEQ ID NO: 11, SEQ ID NO: 12, and SEQ ID NO: 13 or a portion thereof, or an antisense form of the nucleic acid molecule, wherein the nucleic acid molecule or the antisense form of the nucleic acid molecule is positioned in the nucleic acid construct to result in suppression or interference with endogenous mRNA encoding the endogenous NAP protein.