This disclosure provides recombinant DNA constructs and 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 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.

This disclosure provides a number of sequences involved in axillary bud growth in tobacco, methods of using such sequences, tobacco plants carrying modifications to such sequences or transgenes of such sequences, and tobacco products made from tobacco leaf harvested from such plants.

The present invention provides recombinant DNA constructs, vectors and molecules comprising a polynucleotide sequence encoding a florigenic FT protein operably linked to a vegetative stage promoter, which may also be a meristem-preferred or meristem-specific promoter. Transgenic plants, plant cells and tissues, and plant parts are further provided comprising a polynucleotide sequence encoding a florigenic FT protein. Transgenic plants comprising a florigenic FT transgene may produce more bolls, siliques, fruits, nuts, or pods per node on the transgenic plant, particularly on the main stem of the plant, relative to a control or wild type plant. Methods are further provided for introducing a florigenic FT transgene into a plant, and planting transgenic FT plants in the field including at higher densities. Transgenic plants of the present invention may thus provide greater yield potential than wild type plants and may be planted at a higher density due to their altered plant architecture.

Provided herein are genetic markers and a coding sequence associated with a low- or ultra-low anatabine trait in tobacco.

It was found that plants comprising modified CENPC protein comprising one or more active mutations which affect the functioning of CENPC protein yet allow plants expressing said modified CENPC protein to be viable, are able to induce haploid offspring after a cross to or with a wild type plant comprising a endogenous CENPC protein. The invention relates to generation of haploid and doubled haploid plants.

The present disclosure is directed to a modified plant cell, plant tissue, plantlet, plant part, plant, and progeny thereof containing a combination of apyrase genes, including at least one modified gene and/or at least one additional apyrase gene. The disclosure is also directed to a method of making a modified plant with a modified apyrase gene and/or an additional apyrase gene. The modified plant generally exhibits at least one improved characteristic over the plant line from which it was derived. The disclosure also relates to a recombinant DNA molecule comprising a nucleotide sequence encoding an apyrase enzyme as disclosed.

The invention relates to methods for improving abiotic stress tolerance (and/or yield) in plants, including enhanced drought tolerance. It discloses nucleic acid constructs comprising the isolated polynucleotides, transgenic plants expressing the same, and methods of using the same for increasing abiotic stress tolerance (and/or yield).

Endophytic microbial strains as biocatalysts isolated from fresh plant samples, compositions, and methods of use thereof to enhance the growth and/or yield of a plant in the presence of reduced synthetic nitrogen fertilizers are provided. Endophytic microbial strains serve as biocatalysts to solubilize organic (proteinaceous) nitrogen otherwise unavailable to plants for their nutritional needs. Thus defined, biocatalysts will serve to replace synthetic nitrogen fertilizers. Also provided are materials and methods for inoculating plants with these biocatalysts at carefully selected inoculum densities to reliably reduce the amount of nitrogen fertilizer by 50% thus accomplishing optimal yields in technically and cost-effective manner.

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.

The present disclosure relates to transgenic plants that over-express PP2CABA and methods of using such for enhancing osmotic stress tolerance.