As a means for artificially inducing functional endosperm in a seed plant without fertilization, provided is a nucleic acid molecule that contains a base sequence encoding a polypeptide capable of inducing endosperm development, said nucleic acid molecule being to be transferred into the genome of the seed plant and expressed therein so as to induce endosperm development in the seed plant without fertilization.

The present disclosure relates to the field of plant molecular biology, more particularly to regulation of gene expression in plants.

The present disclosure provides a transgenic plant, seed or progeny genetically engineered to overexpress one or more exogenous Oryza sativa acyl-CoA-binding protein 2 (OsACBP2) in an amount effective to enhance grain size and/or weight relative to a vector-transformed control plant. Also provided are methods of enhancing grain size and/or weight by genetically engineering a plant to overexpress one or more exogenous OsACBP2 in an amount effective to enhance grain size and/or weight relative to a vector-transformed control plant. In certain embodiments the plant belongs to the Poaceae family.

Vaccines, methods of producing, and methods of using are provided in which a protective response to Valley Fever disease is produced when administered to an animal. The vaccine provides for expression of Coccidioides sp. Ag2 polypeptide in a plant or plant part, linked to a promoter preferentially directing expression to seed tissue of the plant or plant part. Further embodiments provide the polypeptide is targeted to the cell wall, vacuole or endoplasmic reticulum. The polypeptide may be fused to a dendritic cell targeting dendritic cell or a heat labile enterotoxin. Increased expression levels in the plant or plant part are obtained. The vaccine comprising the plant-produced Ag2 polypeptide may be a glucan chitin particle comprising the Ag2 polypeptide. The plant or plant materials in an embodiment may be orally administered.

The invention provides methods and compositions for identifying transgenic seed that contain a transgene of interest, but lack a marker gene. Use of an identification sequence that results in a detectable phenotype increases the efficiency of screening for seed and plants in which transgene sequences not linked to a gene of interest have segregated from the sequence encoding a gene of interest.

This invention provides molecular constructs and methods for the temporally specific control of gene expression in plants or in plant pests or pathogens. More specifically, this invention provides plant miRNA genes having novel circadian expression patterns that are useful for designing recombinant DNA constructs for temporally specific expression of at least one gene. Also provided are non-natural transgenic plant cells, plants, and seeds containing in their genome a recombinant DNA construct of this invention.

The present disclosure relates to a promoter sequence from the lipid transfer protein 1 gene of Coffea arabica. The present disclosure further describes DNA constructs that contain the promoter, as well as methods of producing transgenic plants, plant cells or protoplasts, using such constructs.

The present invention relates to Brassica sequences comprising early stage seed-specific and endosperm-preferential promoter activity. Provided are recombinant genes comprising the early stage seed-specific and endosperm-preferential promoter operably linked to a heterologous nucleic acid sequence, and cells, plants and seeds comprising the recombinant gene. The promoters can be used to alter gene expression specifically in the seeds at early developmental stages and preferentially in the endosperm and to alter biotic or abiotic stress tolerance, yield, seed quality or seed properties.

The present invention identifies a number of transcription factors of corn, genes encoding the transcription factors, and methods to enhance characteristics of corn such as higher photosynthesis rates, higher photosynthetic electron transport rates, reduced photorespiration rates, higher biomass yield or content, higher seed yield, improved harvest index, higher oil content, improved nutritional composition, improved nitrogen use efficiency, drought resistance, flood resistance, disease resistance, salt tolerance, higher C02 assimilation rate, and lower transpiration rate in a plant by upregulating the genes encoding the transcription factors. Compositions of the invention comprise polypeptide sequences, polynucleotide sequences, variants, orthologs, and fragments thereof. Methods comprise introducing into corn plants systems that increase the expression or activity of transcription factors of the invention. Methods and compositions also provide corn plants with enhanced performance.

Recombinant DNA constructs comprising the soybean sucrose synthase promoter operably linked to polynucleotides encoding transcription factors such as ODP1, Lec1 and FUSCA3 are disclosed. These constructs are used for increasing oil content while maintaining normal germination in oilseed plants. Methods to increase oil content in the seeds of an oilseed plant using this construct are also disclosed herein.