Japan Tobacco Inc.

Shozo Ohta

Satoru Usami

James Nigel Burnell

Shoichi Suzuki

Yuji Ishida

Masao Arai

Jun Ueki

Shinji Morioka

Yoshiki Kuraya

Nobuhiko Murai

Shigehiro Yamada

The present invention relates to the transformation of C4 plants. It also relates to the high-level expression of foreign genes in C4 plants. More specifically, the present invention relates to the creation of C4 plants retaining an excellent photosynthetic capacity at low temperature by achieving high-level expression of an enzyme constituting the C4 photosynthetic pathway. In the present invention, C4 plants are transformed using an expression cassette that comprises a promoter, a C4 plant genomic gene, under control of said promoter, encoding an enzyme constituting a photosynthetic pathway, and a terminator. The C4 plant genomic gene encoding an enzyme constituting a photosynthetic pathway is preferably a C4 plant genome-derived PPDK gene or a modified form thereof. The present invention is particularly useful in improving the production of C4 plants having PPDK (especially, in improving the production of maize under low temperature conditions).

Method of elevating photosynthesis speed of plant by improving pyruvate phosphate dikinase

The present invention relates a method for transforming a rice plant to provide it with a C4 photosynthetic pathway by way of the introduction of some genes participating in a C4 photosynthetic pathway. To this end, the method of the invention comprises introducing a phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) and a gene coding for a phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PCK) which has been connected with a DNA fragment coding for a transit peptide into a rice plant.

Rice plants transformed to provide a PCK-type C4 cycle and methods of making

A method for expressing a foreign gene, by which the foreign genes can be expressed more strongly than by the conventional methods, as well as a recombinant vector therefor, is disclosed. In the method for expressing a foreign gene according to the present invention, the foreign gene is inserted into a site downstream of a promoter and the foreign gene is expressed in a cell, wherein a plurality of intron-originated DNA fragments which are the same or different and are capable of promoting expression of foreign genes are inserted into one or more sites upstream of the foreign gene, and said foreign gene is expressed.

Method for the expressing foreign genes and vectors therefor

Polypeptide having cold-stable pyruvate, orthophoshate dikinase

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Kanagawa, Japan

Shozo Ohta