This disclosure provides transgenic plants having enhanced traits such as increased yield, increased nitrogen use efficiency and enhanced drought tolerance; propagules, progeny and field crops of such transgenic plants; and methods of making and using such transgenic plants. This disclosure also provides methods of producing hybrid seed from such transgenic plants, growing such seed and selecting progeny plants with enhanced traits. Also disclosed are transgenic plants with altered phenotypes which are useful for screening and selecting transgenic events for the desired enhanced trait.

Methods and compositions for identifying novel genes useful for modulating desired agronomic traits in plants are presented herein. The present disclosure relates to methods for identifying line-specific and cluster-specific genes from plants that show perturbation of expression in response to perturbation of expression of a primary gene, and the perturbation of expression of the line-specific or cluster-specific gene confers alterations in agronomic characteristics upon the plant.

This disclosure provides a number of sequences involved in nitrogen utilization, methods of using such sequences, tobacco plants carrying modifications to such sequences, tobacco plants transgenic for such sequences, and tobacco products made from such plants.

This invention relates to genetically modified plants with improved drought tolerance and to genetically modified cells thereof. These plants may have thicker leaves, rounder leaf shape or higher chlorophyll content. The plants may be modified to increase the expression of a plant calmodulin-binding protein IQD22, IQD23 or IQD24. The modified plants are expected to have improved yields under variable field conditions. The invention also relates to a method of genetically modifying a plant to have these characteristics. The invention further relates to isolated nucleic acids and polynucleotide constructs for the genetic engineering of such plants and their use.

Provided are isolated polynucleotides comprising a nucleic acid sequence encoding a polypeptide at least 80% identical to SEQ ID NO: 422, 362-421, 423-601, 2429-4085 and 4086, such as a polynucleotide which is at least 80% identical to SEQ ID NO: 260, 1-259, 261-361, 602-2427 and 2428, nucleic acid constructs comprising same, plant cells comprising same, transgenic plants expressing same, and methods of generating thereof for increasing the yield, biomass, growth rate, vigor, oil content, fiber yield, fiber quality, nitrogen use efficiency and/or abiotic stress tolerance of a plant.

The present disclosure provides methods for increasing the yield of grain crops grown under reduced inorganic nitrogen conditions.

The invention relates to methods for increasing plant yield, and in particular grain yield by reducing or abolishing the expression and/or activity of OTUB1 in a plant. Also described are genetically altered plants characterised by the above phenotype and methods of producing such plants.

The present disclosure provides compositions and methods for altering gibberellin (GA) content in corn or other cereal plants. Methods and compositions are also provided for altering the expression of genes related to gibberellin biosynthesis through suppression, mutagenesis and/or editing of specific subtypes of GA20 or GA3 oxidase genes. Modified plant cells and plants having a suppression element or mutation reducing the expression or activity of a GA oxidase gene are further provided comprising reduced gibberellin levels and improved characteristics, such as reduced plant height and increased lodging resistance, but without off-types.

The present invention is directed to a transgenic maize plant or a part thereof comprising as transgene a nucleic acid capable of expressing a cell wall invertase or a functional part thereof, preferably a Chenopodium rubrum cell wall invertase or a functional part thereof, wherein as a result of the expression of the cell wall invertase or a functional part thereof the transgenic maize plant exhibits an enhanced tolerance to abiotic stress and/or an increased yield, to a method of producing such transgenic maize plant, to method of enhancing the tolerance to abiotic stress of a maize plant and/or of increasing yield potential of a maize plant, to a nucleic acid capable of expressing a cell wall invertase or a functional part thereof, preferably a Chenopodium rubrum cell wall invertase or a functional part thereof, to a vector comprising such nucleic acid, the use of the nucleic acid or vector for enhancing the tolerance to abiotic stress of a maize plant, for increasing yield potential of a maize plant and/or for protecting a maize plant against abiotic stress, and to a method for production of ethanol or methane from transgenic maize plant or a part thereof of the invention.

The invention provides recombinant DNA molecules and constructs, as well as their nucleotide sequences, useful for modulating gene expression in plants. The invention also provides transgenic plants, plant cells, plant parts, and seeds comprising the recombinant DNA molecules operably linked to heterologous transcribable DNA molecules, as are methods of their use.