Patent ID: 8058510

Claim:
A method for obtaining a cell of a plant with high vigor, when compared to a control plant cell, comprising the steps of: i) identifying an endogenous PARP encoding gene or cDNA from said plant comprising: a. performing PCR on genomic or cDNA from said plant at an annealing temperature of at least 45Â° C. using a primer pair selected from the nucleotide sequences comprising at least 20 consecutive nucleotides of the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID No.: 1, SEQ ID No.: 3, SEQ ID NO.: 5 or SEQ ID No.: 10; b. performing PCR on genomic or cDNA from said plant at an annealing temperature of at least 45Â° C. using a primer pair selected from the nucleotide sequences comprising at least 20 consecutive nucleotides of the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 from nucleotide position 2558 to 2704, the sequence of SEQ ID NO: 3 from nucleotide position 1595 to 1747, the sequence of SEQ ID NO: 5 from nucleotide position 1575 to 1724, or the sequence of SEQ ID NO: 10 from nucleotide position 2559 to 2705; or c. performing PCR on genomic or cDNA from said plant at an annealing temperature of at least 45Â° C. using a primer pair selected from the following nucleotide sequences: SEQ ID No.: 13 and SEQ ID No.: 14; SEQ ID No.: 15 and SEQ ID No.: 16; SEQ ID No.: 17 and SEQ ID No.: 18; SEQ ID No.: 19 and SEQ ID No.: 20; and ii) introducing a chimeric gene to said cell to yield a transgenic cell, wherein said chimeric gene comprises the following operably linked DNA regions: a) a plant-expressible promoter; b) a DNA region, which when transcribed yields an RNA molecule, capable of reducing the expression of said endogenous PARP encoding gene or cDNA; and c) a DNA region involved in transcription termination and polyadenylation wherein said RNA molecule for introduction into said cell of said plant comprises i) a sense nucleotide sequence comprising at least 100 consecutive nucleotides from said endogenous PARP encoding gene or cDNA of said plant; and ii) an antisense nucleotide sequence comprising at least 100 consecutive nucleotides from the complement of said sense nucleotide sequence; said sense and said antisense nucleotide sequence being capable of combining into a double stranded RNA region; and wherein said vigor of said cell of said plant can be measured by measuring the capacity of explants of said plant to reduce 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazoliumchloride.