Transgenic plants that exhibit enhanced nitrogen assimilation

Abstract

Transgenic plants containing free amino acids, particularly at least one amino acid selected from among glutamic acid, asparagine, aspartic acid, serine, threonine, alanine and histidine accumulated in a large amount, in edible parts thereof, and a method of producing them are provided. In this method, glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) gene is introduced into a plant together with a regulator sequence suitable for over expressing the sequence encoding GDH gene in plant cells.

Description

[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of co-pending application Ser. No. 08 / 132,334 filed Oct. 6, 1993, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.1. INTRODUCTION[0003] The present invention relates generally to genetic-engineering plants to display enhanced nitrogen assimilatory and utilization capacities, grow larger, more efficiently or rapidly, and / or have enriched nitrogen contents in vegetative and / or reproductive plant parts and / or increased biomass. More particularly, this invention relates to producing transgenic plants engineered to have altered expression of key enzymes in the nitrogen assimilation and utilization pathways. The engineered plants may be productively cultivated under conditions of low nitrogen fertilizer input or in nitrogen poor soils. Alternatively, the engineered plants may be used to achieve faster growing or maturing crops, higher crop yields and / or more nutritious products under ideal cultivation conditions.2. BACKGROUND OF ...

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