Los Alamos National Security, LLC

University of Maine System

University of California

New Mexico Highlands University

Advanced Crop Chem LLP

Triad National Security, LLC

Pat J Unkefer

Thomas J Knight

Rodolfo Antonio Martinez

Penelope S Anderson

David R Glass

Clifford J Unkefer

Nigel M Grech

Fangping Mu

John Haywood

Rodolfo Martinez

William S Hlavacek

Thomas Joseph Knight

Rodolfo A Martinez

Thomas Knight

6-oxo-1,4,5,6 tetrahydropyridazine-3-carboxylic acid or its salts or 1-methyl 6-oxo-1,4,5,6-tetrahydropyridizin-3-carboxylic acid or its salts, to plants can cause an increase in parameters such as germination, seedling emergence, growth, drought tolerance and recovery, yield,induced root nodulation as compared to untreated wild type plants. 1-Methyl 6-oxo-1,4,5,6 tetrahydropyridazine-3-carboxylic acid or its salts is chemically the simplest 1-alkyl 6-oxo-1,4,5,6-tetrahydropyridazine-3-carboxylic acid and as such is an example showing the effectiveness of a 1-alkyl 6-oxo-1,4,5,6 tetrahydropyridazine-3-carboxylic acid. Higher series derivatives such as 1-alkyl 6-oxo-1,4,5,6 tetrahydropyridazine-3-carboxylic acids also induce beneficial effects on treated plants.

Use of 6-oxo-1,4,5,6-tetrahydropyridazine-3-carboxylic acid, 1-methyl 6-oxo-1,4,5,6-tetrahydropyridazine-3-carboxylic acid and 1-alkyl-6-oxo-1,4,5,6-tetrahydropyridazine-3-carboxylic acid for improving growth performance in plants

The invention is directed to methods and compositions for increasing a growth characteristic of a plant, increasing nutrient use efficiency of a plant, or improving a plant's ability to overcome stress comprising applying a composition comprising ketosuccinamate, a derivative thereof, or a salt thereof, to the plant or to a propagation material of the plant.

Compounds and methods for improving plant performance

Glutamine phenylpyruvate transaminase (GPT) proteins, nucleic acid molecules encoding GPT proteins, and uses thereof are disclosed. Provided herein are various GPT proteins and GPT gene coding sequences isolated from a number of plant species. As disclosed herein, GPT proteins share remarkable structural similarity within plant species, and are active in catalyzing the synthesis of 2-hydroxy-5-oxoproline (2-oxoglutaramate), a powerful signal metabolite which regulates the function of a large number of genes involved in the photosynthesis apparatus, carbon fixation and nitrogen metabolism.

Nucleic acids encoding plant glutamine phenylpyruvate transaminase (GPT) and uses thereof

The invention relates to transgenic plants exhibiting dramatically enhanced growth rates, greater seed and fruit/pod yields, earlier and more productive flowering, more efficient nitrogen utilization, increased tolerance to high salt conditions, and increased biomass yields. In one embodiment, transgenic plants engineered to over-express both glutamine phenylpyruvate transaminase (GPT) and glutamine synthetase (GS) are provided. The GPT+GS double-transgenic plants of the invention consistently exhibit enhanced growth characteristics, with T0 generation lines showing an increase in biomass over wild type counterparts of between 50% and 300%. Generations that result from sexual crosses and/or selfing typically perform even better, with some of the double-transgenic plants achieving an astounding four-fold biomass increase over wild type plants.

Transgenic plants with enhanced growth characteristics

A process for synthesizing 4-amino-2,4-dioxobutanoic acid involves reacting diethyl oxalate with an alkoxide in ethanol to form a reaction mixture, and afterward adding ethyl cyanoacetate to the reaction mixture and allowing a reaction to proceed under conditions suitable to form a first reaction product of the formula diethyl 2-cyano-3-hydroxy-butenedioate, and then isolating the diethyl 2-cyano-3-hydroxy-butenedioate, and afterward reacting the diethyl-2-cyano-3-hydroxy-butenedioate with an aqueous hydroxide under conditions suitable to form 4-amino-2,4-dioxobutanoic acid.

Preparation of 4-amino-2,4-dioxobutanoic acid

A process for synthesizing 4-amino-2,4-dioxobutanoate involves reacting a dialkyl oxalate with an alkoxide in ethanol to form a reaction mixture, and afterward adding an alkyl cyano acetate to the reaction mixture and allowing a reaction to proceed under conditions suitable to form a first reaction product of the formula diethyl 2-cyano-3-hydroxy-butenedioate, and then isolating the diethyl 2-cyano-3-hydroxy-butenedioate, and afterward reacting the diethyl-2-cyano-3-hydroxy-butenedioate with an aqueous hydroxide under conditions suitable to form 4-amino-2,4-dioxobutanoate. The 4-amino-2,4-dioxobutanoate may be acidified into 4-amino-2,4-dioxobutanoic acid.

The present disclosure relates to compositions and methods for increasing the leaf-to-root ratio of the signal metabolite 2-oxoglutaramate and related proline molecules in plants by modulating levels of &#x3c9;-amidase to increase nitrogen use efficiency, resulting in enhanced growth, faster growth rates, greater seed and fruit/pod yields, earlier and more productive flowering, increased tolerance to high salt conditions, and increased biomass yields.

Increasing plant growth by modulating omega-amidase expression in plants

A process for synthesizing 4-amino-2,4-dioxobutanoic acid involves reacting diethyl oxalate with sodium ethoxide in ethanol to form a reaction mixture, and afterward adding ethyl cyanoacetate to the reaction mixture and allowing a reaction to proceed under conditions suitable to form a first reaction product of the formula diethyl-2-cyano-3-hydroxy-butenedioate, and then isolating the diethyl-2-cyano-3-hydroxybutenedioate, and afterward reacting the diethyl-2-cyano-3-hydroxy-butenedioate with aqueous sodium hydroxide under conditions suitable to form 4-amino-2,4-dioxobutanoic acid.

The present disclosure relates to transgenic algae having increased growth characteristics, and methods of increasing growth characteristics of algae. In particular, the disclosure relates to transgenic algae comprising a glutamine phenylpyruvate transaminase transgene and to transgenic algae comprising a glutamine phenylpyruvate transaminase transgene and a glutamine synthetase.

Transgenic algae engineered for higher performance

The present invention describes a composition including a mixture of L- and D-pyroglutamate stereoisomers in a ratio of L to D of from about 80:20 to about 97:3 , and, a carrier medium for application of the L- and D-pyroglutamate stereoisomers to a target plant. The composition can also be used as a germination medium and may be incorporated into a seed coat for assisting in germination. The present invention further describes a method of increasing the agronomic performance of a target plant by treating a target plant with a composition including a mixture of L- and D-pyroglutamate stereoisomers in a ratio of L to D of from about 80:20 to about 97:3 and a carrier medium for said L- and D-pyroglutamate stereoisomers.

Use of prolines for improving growth and/or yield

The present invention describes a composition including a mixture of L- and D-pyroglutamate stereoisomers in a ratio of L to D of from about 80:20 to about 97:3, and, a carrier medium for application of the L- and D-pyroglutamate stereoisomers to a target plant. The composition can also be used as a germination medium and may be incorporated into a seed coat for assisting in germination. The present invention further describes a method of increasing the agronomic performance of a target plant by treating a target plant with a composition including a mixture of L- and D-pyroglutamate stereoisomers in a ratio of L to D of from about 80:20 to about 97:3 and a carrier medium for said L- and D-pyroglutamate stereoisomers.

The reactivity of given metabolites is assessed using selected empirical atomic properties in the potential reaction center. Metabolic reactions are represented as biotransformation rules. These rules are generalized from the patterns in reactions. These patterns are not unique to reactants but are widely distributed among metabolites. Using a metabolite database, potential substructures are identified in the metabolites for a given biotransformation. These substructures are divided into reactants or non-reactants, depending on whether they participate in the biotransformation or not. Each potential substructure is then modeled using descriptors of the topological and electronic properties of atoms in the potential reaction center; molecular properties can also be used. A Support Vector Machine (SVM) or classifier is trained to classify a potential reactant as a true or false reactant using these properties.

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Los Alamos, NM, United States of America

Pat J Unkefer