The present invention relates to abiotic stress-inducible derivative promoters from Xerophyta viscosa, nucleotide cassettes, recombinant vectors, cells and transgenic plants containing the promoter in operable linkage with a heterologous transcribable DNA sequence.

The present invention is directed to promoter sequences and promoter control elements, polynucleotide constructs comprising the promoters and control elements, and methods of identifying the promoters, control elements, or fragments thereof. The invention further relates to the use of the present promoters or promoter control elements to modulate transcript levels in plants, and plants containing such promoters or promoter control elements.

The present invention relates generally to the field of molecular biology and describes nucleic acids encoding regulatory elements capable of affecting expression of a coding sequence. The regulatory elements described herein may be used to direct the expression of a heterologous coding region in the green tissues and upon exposure to light in plants. The invention may also be used to create transgenic plants having improved characteristics, such as yield.

The present invention provides a method of producing transgenic plants which are drought resistant, plants obtainable by the method and uses thereof.

In one aspect, the present application discloses a chimeric gene comprising (a) a first nucleic acid sequence comprising at least 400 consecutive nucleotides of SEQ ID NO: 1 or SEQ ID NO: 2 or a nucleic acid sequence having at least 80% sequence identity thereto any of which confers stress inducibility on said chimeric gene; (b) a second nucleic acid sequence encoding an expression product of interest, which is involved in the response of a cotton plant to stress; and optionally (c) a transcription termination and polyadenylation sequence. In another aspect, the application discloses a cotton plant cell comprising (a) a chimeric gene comprising a first nucleic acid sequence comprising at least 400 consecutive nucleotides of SEQ ID NO: 1 or SEQ ID NO: 2 or a nucleic acid sequence having at least 80 sequence identity thereto any of which confers stress inducibility on said chimeric gene; (b) a second nucleic acid sequence encoding an expression product of interest; and optionally (c) a transcription termination and polyadenylation sequence. In addition, the present application discloses a cotton plant, a method of expressing a transgene in cotton under stress conditions, a method of producing a cotton plant, a method of detecting the expression of a transgene under stress conditions and a method for modulating the resistance of a cotton plant to stress as characterized in the claims.

Described are methods and compositions for enhancing drought tolerance in plants. Nucleic acid constructs therefore are also described. Transgenic plants are also provided that exhibit enhanced agronomic properties. The inventors have demonstrated increased drought tolerance in connection with increased expression of the Xa21 gene.

The present technology provides dominant negative forms of transcription factors for modifying nicotine biosynthesis and nucleic acid molecules that encode such dominant negative transcription factors. Also provided are methods of using these nucleic acids to modulate nicotine production in plants and for producing plants and plant cells having reduced nicotine content.

Embodiments of the present invention provide for a transgenic plan, methods of making and DNA contructs for use in the transgenic plant which transgenic plant is capable of modulating its photosynthetic antenna complex composition in response to increases or decreases in light intensity by modulation of the ratio of chlorophyll a to chlorophyll b such that there is an increase in the Chl a/b ratio at high light intensity and a decrease in the Chl a/b ratio at low light intensity versus wild-type plants grown in the same conditions.

The invention discloses a plant thermo-sensitive male sterile gene mutant tms15 and uses thereof. The nucleotide sequence of the plant thermo-sensitive male sterile gene mutant tms15 is SEQ ID No. 1. The inventor screened the thermo sensitive genic male sterile mutant tms15 by EMS mutagenesis of Zhonghua 11, which showed a male sterile phenotype under high temperature conditions (>28° C.) and restored fertility under low temperature conditions (22˜24° C.). The cytological results shows that the sporogenous cells in tms15 plants proliferated excessively and the tapetum cells are also vacuolized abnormally under high temperature. The normal proliferation of sporogenous cells and the normal development of tapetal cells are restored to some extent after low temperature treatment.

The present invention is directed to promoter sequences and promoter control elements, polynucleotide constructs comprising the promoters and control elements, and methods of identifying the promoters, control elements, or fragments thereof. The invention further relates to the use of the present promoters or promoter control elements to modulate transcript levels.