The invention provides compositions and methods relating to the elevation of glucoraphanin compared to standard Brassica oleracea varieties. The invention also relates to the production of hybrid varieties having desired glucosinolate contents. The invention further provides plants, plant parts, and seeds comprising such traits and comprising a Myb28 allele from Brassica villosa that is not genetically linked to an ELONG allele from Brassica villosa.

The present invention relates to isolated polypeptides having cellulolytic enhancing activity and isolated polynucleotides encoding the polypeptides. The invention also relates to nucleic acid constructs, vectors, and host cells comprising the polynucleotides as well as methods of producing and using the polypeptides.

This disclosure provides genetically modified plants having desirable levels of sugar release, cellulose content and reduction of recalcitrance; methods of genetically modifying plants to modulate sugar release, cellulose and lignin contents; and uses of such plants. The inventors have determined that genetic modification of PdDUF266A from Populus, encoded by locus Potri.011G009500 resulted in transgenic Populus trees with changes in lignin and cellulose content as well as altered sugar release phenotypes. Plants with altered sugar release, cellulose and lignin content, based on modulation of the expression or activity of the PdDUF266A gene, have diverse uses including pulp and paper production, and biofuel and bioproducts production.

The invention provides methods of engineering plants having lignin deposition or xylan deposition that is substantially localized to the vessels of xylem tissue in the plant. The invention also provides methods of engineering plants to increase production of a desired biosynthetic product, e.g., to have increased secondary cell wall deposition or increased wax/cutin accumulation. The engineered plants of the present invention have use in bioenergy production, e.g., by improving the density and the digestibility of biomass derived from the plant and to improve water usage requirements.

The present invention relates to cellobiohydrolase variants. The present invention also relates to polynucleotides encoding the variants; nucleic acid constructs, vectors, and host cells comprising the polynucleotides; and methods of using the variants.

Methods and means are provided to produce positively charged oligosaccharides in the plant cell wall by introducing into said plant cell a Nodulation C protein fused to a heterologous Golgi signal anchor sequence.

A method of predicting an intein insertion site in a protein that will lead to a switching phenotype is provided. The method includes identifying a plurality of C/T/S sites within the protein; selecting from the plurality of C/T/S/sites those that are ranked 0.75 or higher by a support vector machine, within ten angstroms of the active site of the protein, and at or near a loop--sheet junction or a loop--helix junction. A method of controlling protein activity and hosts including proteins with controlled activity are also provided. Also, intein modified proteins and plants containing intein modified proteins are provided.

The present invention relates generally to polysaccharide synthases. More particularly, the present invention relates to (1,3;1,4)--D-glucan synthases. The present invention provides, among other things, methods for influencing the level of (1,3;1,4)--D-glucan produced by a cell and nucleic acid and amino acid sequences which encode (1,3;1,4)--D-glucan synthases.

The present invention relates to transgenic plants, or parts thereof, with modified traits, as well as methods of selecting and using these plants or parts. In particular, the present invention relates to a transgenic plant, or part thereof, comprising a first exogenous polynucleotide which encodes a transcription factor polypeptide that increases the expression of one or more glycolytic and/or fatty acid biosynthetic genes in the plant or part thereof, and a second exogenous polynucleotide which encodes a polypeptide involved in the biosynthesis of one or more non-polar lipids. Furthermore, in addition to an increased triacylglycerol (TAG) content relative to a corresponding wild-type plant or part thereof, the plant or part thereof have a modified phenotype selected from; an increased soluble protein content, an increased nitrogen content, a decreased carbon:nitrogen ratio, increased photosynthetic gene expression, increased photosynthetic capacity, decreased total dietary fibre (TDF) content, increased carbon content and an increased energy content.

A method to generate siRNAs in vivo is described, as are constructs and compositions useful in the method. The method does not depend on the use of DNA or synthetic constructs that contain inverted duplications or dual promoters so as to form perfect or largely double-stranded RNA. Rather, the method depends on constructs that yield single-stranded RNA transcripts, and exploits endogenous or in vivo-produced miRNAs or siRNAs to initiate production of siRNAs. The miRNAs or siRNAs guide cleavage of the transcript and set the register for production of siRNAs (usually 21 nucleotides in length) encoded adjacent to the initiation cleavage site within the construct. The method results in specific formation of siRNAs of predictable size and register (phase) relative to the initiation cleavage site. The method can be used to produce specific siRNAs in vivo for inactivation or suppression of one or more target genes or other entities, such as pathogens.