Cotton plants having vegetative and reproductive tolerance to glyphosate

Abstract

The present invention relates to a transgenic cotton plant and seed that has vegetative and reproductive tolerance to glyphosate, wherein the transgenic plant or seed comprises at least one expression cassette comprising a structural DNA sequence encoding a glyphosate tolerance protein, and the transgenic plant has a boll map value greater than or equal to 3 following exposure to glyphosate after the 4 leaf stage.

1 . A transgenic cotton plant comprising at least one expression cassette comprising a structural DNA sequence encoding a glyphosate tolerance protein and having a boll map value greater than or equal to 3 following exposure to glyphosate after the 4 leaf stage.  
     
     
         2 . The transgenic cotton plant of  claim 1 , wherein the boll map value is determined by spraying the cotton plant after the 4 leaf stage with glyphosate at a rate of 48 ounces/acre, allowing the cotton plant to grow to maturity, and determining the number of first position bolls for the first five bolls.  
     
     
         3 . The transgenic cotton plant of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one expression cassette comprises the structural DNA sequence operably linked to a promoter.  
     
     
         4 . The transgenic cotton plant of  claim 3 , wherein the promoter is a hybrid promoter comprising a FMV or 35S promoter operably linked to an EF1α, Act8, Act2 or Act11 promoter.  
     
     
         5 . The transgenic cotton plant of  claim 4 , wherein the FMV promoter comprises a duplicated enhancer (eFMV).  
     
     
         6 . The transgenic cotton plant of  claim 4 , wherein the 35S promoter comprises a duplicated enhancer (e35S).  
     
     
         7 . The transgenic cotton plant of any one of  claims 4  to  6  comprising a first and second expression cassettes, wherein the first expression cassette comprises the structural DNA sequence operably linked to hybrid promoter FMV:EF1α, and the second expression cassette comprises the structural DNA sequence operably linked to hybrid promoter e35S:Act8.  
     
     
         8 . The transgenic cotton plant of  claim 3 , wherein the promoter is selected from the group consisting of a FMV, 35S, EF1α, Act8, Act2 and Act11 promoter.  
     
     
         9 . The transgenic cotton plant of  claim 8 , wherein the FMV promoter comprises a duplicated enhancer (eFMV).  
     
     
         10 . The transgenic cotton plant of  claim 8 , wherein the 35S promoter comprises a duplicated enhancer (e35S).  
     
     
         11 . The transgenic cotton plant of any one of  claims 8  to  10  comprising a first and second expression cassettes, wherein the first expression cassette comprises the structural DNA sequence operably linked to a FMV promoter, and the second expression cassette comprises the structural DNA sequence operably linked to an EF1α, Act8 or Act2 promoter.  
     
     
         12 . The transgenic cotton plant of any one of  claims 8  to  10  comprising a first and second expression cassettes, wherein the first expression cassette comprises the structural DNA sequence operably linked to a 35S promoter, and the second expression cassette comprises the structural DNA sequence operably linked to an EF1α or Act11 promoter.  
     
     
         13 . The transgenic cotton plant of  claim 1 , wherein the glyphosate tolerance protein is a glyphosate oxidoreductase (GOX) protein.  
     
     
         14 . The transgenic cotton plant of  claim 1 , wherein the glyphosate tolerance protein is an 5-enolpyruvyl-3-phosphoshikimate synthase (EPSPS) protein.  
     
     
         15 . The transgenic cotton plant of  claim 14 , wherein the glyphosate tolerance protein is aroA:CP4 EPSPS.  
     
     
         16 . The transgenic cotton plant of  claim 1 , wherein the structural DNA sequence encoding the glyphosate tolerance protein is further operably linked to a structural DNA sequence encoding a chloroplast transit peptide (CTP).  
     
     
         17 . The transgenic cotton plant of  claim 16 , wherein the chloroplast transit peptide is CTP2 from  Arabidopsis.    
     
     
         18 . A seed of the transgenic cotton plant of  claim 1 , wherein the seed comprises the at least one expression cassette comprising the structural DNA sequence encoding the glyphosate tolerance protein.