Drought tolerant plants and related constructs and methods involving genes encoding dtp6 polypeptides

Abstract

Isolated polynucleotides and polypeptides and recombinant DNA constructs useful for conferring drought tolerance, compositions (such as plants or seeds) comprising these recombinant DNA constructs, and methods utilizing these recombinant DNA constructs. The recombinant DNA construct comprises a polynucleotide operably linked to a promoter that is functional in a plant, wherein said polynucleotide encodes a DTP6 polypeptide.

1 . A plant comprising in its genome a polynucleotide operably linked to at least one regulatory element, wherein said polynucleotide encodes a polypeptide having an amino acid sequence of at least 95% sequence identity, based on the Clustal V method of alignment, when compared to SEQ ID NOS: 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38-70, 75, 77, 79, 81, 83, 85, 87, 89, 91, 92-102 or 103, and wherein said plant exhibits increased drought tolerance when compared to a control plant not comprising said recombinant DNA construct. 
     
     
         2 . The plant of  claim 1 , wherein said plant exhibits an increase in yield, biomass, or both, when compared to a control plant not comprising said polynucleotide. 
     
     
         3 . The plant of  claim 1 , wherein said plant exhibits increased tolerance to triple stress, or Paraquat, or both, when compared to a control plant not comprising said polynucleotide. 
     
     
         4 . (canceled) 
     
     
         5 . The plant of  claim 2 , wherein said plant exhibits said increase in yield, biomass, or both when compared, under water limiting conditions, to said control plant. 
     
     
         6 . The plant of  claim 1 , wherein said plant is selected from the group consisting of: maize, soybean, sunflower, sorghum, canola, wheat, alfalfa, cotton, rice, barley, millet, sugar cane and switchgrass. 
     
     
         7 . Seed of the plant of  claim 1  and wherein a plant produced from said seed exhibits an increase in at least one trait selected from the group consisting of: drought tolerance, triple stress tolerance, Paraquat tolerance, yield and biomass, when compared to a control plant not comprising said recombinant DNA construct. 
     
     
         7 . (canceled) 
     
     
         8 . A method of increasing drought tolerance in a plant, comprising:
 (a) obtaining a plant that plant comprises in its genome a polynucleotide operably linked to at least one regulatory sequence, wherein the polynucleotide encodes a polypeptide having an amino acid sequence of at least 50% sequence identity, based on the Clustal V method of alignment, when compared to SEQ ID NOS: 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38-70, 75, 77, 79, 81, 83, 85, 87, 89, 91, 92-102 or 103;   (b) obtaining a progeny plant derived from the plant of step (a), wherein said progeny plant exhibits increased drought tolerance when compared to a control plant not comprising the polynucleotide operably linked to at least one regulatory sequence.   
     
     
         9 . (canceled) 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the plant exhibits increased under drought stress compared to the control plant. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein said plant is selected from the group consisting of corn, soybean, cotton, wheat, rice, barley, alfalfa, sorghum, and sunflower. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein said recombinant DNA construct comprises an enhancer. 
     
     
         13 . (canceled) 
     
     
         14 . (canceled) 
     
     
         15 . (canceled) 
     
     
         16 . (canceled) 
     
     
         17 . An isolated polynucleotide comprising:
 (a) a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide with drought tolerance activity, wherein, based on the Clustal V method of alignment with pairwise alignment default parameters of KTUPLE=1, GAP PENALTY=3, WINDOW=5 and DIAGONALS SAVED=5, the polypeptide has an amino acid sequence of at least 95% sequence identity when compared to SEQ ID NO: 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38-70, 75, 77, 79, 81, 83, 85, 87, 89, 91, 92-102 or 103;   (b) a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide with drought tolerance activity, wherein, the polypeptide has an amino acid sequence comprising a mature DTP6 polypeptide with the HMM profile given in  FIG. 13A - FIG. 13Y ; or   (c) the full complement of the nucleotide sequence of (a) or (c),   wherein the polynucleotide is operably linked to a heterologous nucleic acid sequence.   
     
     
         18 . The polynucleotide of  claim 17 , wherein the amino acid sequence of the polypeptide comprises SEQ ID NO: 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38-70, 75, 77, 79, 81, 83, 85, 87, 89, 91, 92-102, 103. 
     
     
         19 . The polynucleotide of  claim 17  wherein the nucleotide sequence comprises SEQ ID NO: 17, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 29, 31, 33, 35, 37, 74, 76, 78, 80, 82, 84, 86 and 88. 
     
     
         20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . (canceled)