This invention relates to compositions and methods for modifying Homologous to E6AP C-Terminus (HECT) E3 Ubiquitin Protein Ligase (UPL) genes in plants, optionally to improve yield traits. The invention further relates to plants having increased improved yield traits produced using the methods and compositions of the invention.

The present invention provides recombinant DNA constructs, vectors and molecules useful for attenuating and/or refining the expression of a florigenic FT gene or transgene using targeting sequences of small RNA molecules. Transgenic plants, plant cells and tissues, and plant parts comprising the recombinant constructs, vectors, and molecules are also provided. Transgenic plants comprising a florigenic FT transgene may produce more bolls, siliques, fruits, nuts, or pods per node on the transgenic plant via suppression, relative to a control or wild type plant. Methods are further provided for introducing the recombinant DNA constructs, vectors, and molecules into a plant, and planting transgenic plants in the field including at higher densities. Transgenic plants of the present invention may provide greater yield potential than wild type or control plants.

Described herein are engineered cells and plants that contain a heterologous Diadenosine and Diphosphoinositol Polyphosphate Phosphohydrolase (DDP1) polypeptide, a heterologous DDP1 encoding polynucleotide, a vector or vector system comprising a heterologous DDP1 encoding polynucleotide, or a combination thereof. Also described herein are methods of making and using the engineered cells and plants described herein.

Compositions and methods and for enhancing the resistance of plants to a plant disease caused by a Phytophthora species are provided. The compositions comprise nucleic acid molecules encoding resistance (R) gene products and variants thereof and plants, seeds, and plant cells comprising such nucleic acid molecules. The methods for enhancing the resistance of a plant to a plant disease caused by a Phytophthora species comprise introducing a nucleic acid molecule encoding an R gene product into a plant cell. Additionally provided are methods for using the plants in agriculture to limit plant disease.

Provided are compositions comprising polynucleotides and polypeptides for the improvement of agronomic traits in plants, in particular maize plants. Also provided are recombinant DNA constructs, plants, plant cells, seed, grain comprising the polynucleotides and/or polypeptides. Additionally, various methods of employing the polynucleotides and genetic modifications in plants, such as methods for increasing yield of a plant are also provided herein.

Embodiments of the present disclosure pertain to modified plants or seeds that include: (1) overexpressed rice SUMO E3 ligase SIZ1 (OsSIZ1), an analog thereof, a homolog thereof, a derivative thereof, or combinations thereof; and (2) overexpressed Larrea tridentate rubisco activase (LtRCA), an analog thereof, a homolog thereof, a derivative thereof, or combinations thereof. The modified plant or seed demonstrates enhanced resistance to environmental stress. Additional embodiments of the present disclosure pertain to methods of developing a modified plant or seed of the present disclosure by overexpressing in the plant or seed: (1) rice SUMO E3 ligase SIZ1 (OsSIZ1), an analog thereof, a homolog thereof, a derivative thereof, or combinations thereof; and (2) Larrea tridentate rubisco activase (LtRCA), an analog thereof, a homolog thereof, a derivative thereof, or combinations thereof. Further embodiments pertain to methods of growing a modified plant or seed of the present disclosure in a field.

The present disclosure relates to the targeting of transcriptional activators to specific loci in plants to activate transcription of the targeted loci. Specifically, the present disclosure provides methods and compositions for using guided (e.g. RNA-guided) transcriptional activators to activate transcription of specific loci in plants.

The invention discloses a method for improving rice yield and a protein used thereof. The invention provides a method for cultivating the target rice, comprising the following steps of inhibiting the activity of RAY1 protein in original rice to obtain target rice; compared with the original rice, the target rice shows higher yield and/or larger grain size and/or stronger resistance to rice blast and/or higher plant height and/or longer stem internode length; the RAY1 protein is a protein composed of an amino acid sequence shown as SEQ ID No. 1 in a sequence list. The invention uses CRISPR/Cas9 technology to realize site-directed editing rice RAY1 gene, through knocking out rice RAY1 gene by frameshift mutation, the protein RAY1 is inactivated, and a new generation of rice germplasm with significantly improved yield is obtained.

Provided are isolated polynucleotides which comprise a nucleic acid sequence at least 80% identical to SEQ ID NO: 321, 1-320, 322-480, 793-2945 or 2946; isolated polypeptides which comprise an amino acid sequence at least 80% homologous to SEQ ID NO: 517, 481-516, 518-792, 2947-4662 or 4663, nucleic acid constructs comprising same, transgenic cells and plants expressing same and methods of using same for increasing yield, biomass, growth rate, vigor, oil content, fiber yield, fiber quality, abiotic stress tolerance, and/or nitrogen use efficiency of a plant.

The subject invention concerns materials and methods for increasing and/or improving photosynthetic efficiency in plants, and in particular, C3 plants. In particular, the subject invention provides for means to increase the number of bundle sheath (BS) cells in plants, to improve the efficiency of photosynthesis in BS cells, and to increase channels between BS and mesophyll (M) cells. In one embodiment, a method of the invention concerns altering the expression level or pattern of one or more of SHR, SCR, and/or SCL23 in a plant. The subject invention also pertains to genetically modified plants, and in particular, C3 plants, that exhibit increased expression of one or more of SHR, SCR, and/or SCL23. Transformed and transgenic plants are contemplated within the scope of the invention. The subject invention also concerns methods for increasing expression of photosynthetically important genes in a plant, wherein one or more genes of interest are operably linked with a plant SHR, SCR or SCL23 promoter sequence and expressed in a plant.