MXPA06005774A - “seedy1”nuceic acids for making plants having changed growth characteristics - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention concerns a method for modifying the growth characteristics of a plant relative to corresponding wild type plants, comprising modifying expression in a plant of a seedy1 nucleic acid and/or modifying the level and/or activity in a plant of a seedy1 protein. The invention also concerns novel constructs and novel seedy1 nucleic acid and protein sequences.

Description

PLANTS THAT HAVE MODIFIED GROWTH CHARACTERISTICS AND A METHOD FOR DEVELOPING THEMSELVES DESCRIPTIVE MEMORY The present invention relates to a method for modifying the growth characteristics of a plant. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method for modifying the growth characteristics of a plant by modifying the expression of a seedyl nucleic acid and / or by modifying the levels and / or activity of a plant. seedyl protein in a plant. The present invention also relates to plants having modified growth characteristics and modified expression of a seedyl nucleic acid and / or modified levels and / or activity of a seedyl protein with respect to the corresponding wild-type plants. The growing world population and dwindling supply of arable land available for agriculture encourages research towards improving the efficiency of agriculture. Conventional means of crop improvement and hot-growing use selective cross-breeding techniques to identify plants that have desirable characteristics. However, said selective crossing techniques have several disadvantages, that is, these techniques are typically laborious and result in plants that frequently contain heterogeneous genetic components that may not always result in the desirable trait to be approved from the parent plants. Advances in molecular biology have allowed mankind to modify the gersm of animals and plants. Plant genetic engineering encompasses the isolation and manipulation of genetic material (typically in the form of DNA or RNA) and the subsequent introduction of that genetic material into a plant. This technology has the capacity to supply crops or plants with different economic, agronomic or horticultural features improved. A particular feature of economic interest is production. Production is usually defined as the measurable product of economic value from a harvest. This can be defined in terms of quantity and / or quality. Harvest production can not only be increased by combating one or more stresses to which a crop or plant is typically subject, but it can also be increased by modifying the inherent growth characteristics of a plant. Production is directly dependent on several growth characteristics, for exa, growth rate, biomass production, plant architecture, number and size of organs, (for exa, the number of branches, offshoots, shoots, flowers), seed production and more. Root development and nutrient intake can also be important factors in determining production. The ability to modify one or more plant growth characteristics could have many applications in areas such as crop improvement, plant cross, ornamental plant production, arboriculture, horticulture, forestry, algae or plant production (eg for use as bioreactors, for the production of substances such as pharmaceutical elements, antibodies, or vaccines, or for the bioconversion of organic waste or for use as fuel in the case of algae and high production plants). It has now been found that modifying the expression in a plant of a seedyl nucleic acid and / or modifying the level and / or activity in a plant of a seedyl protein produces plants that have modified growth characteristics with respect to the plants of corresponding wild type. A seedyl protein is defined in the present invention as a protein comprising, in the following order from the N-terminal to the C-terminal: (i) a motif having at least 80% sequence identity with respect to the sequence presented by SEQ ID NO 15; and (ii) a motif having at least 80% sequence identity with respect to the sequence presented by SEQ ID NO 16; and (iii) a motif having at least 80% sequence identity with respect to the sequence presented by SEQ ID NO 17, and said motif is a coiled spiral motif; and (iv) a motif having at least 80% sequence identity with respect to the sequence presented by SEQ ID NO 18.

A nucleic acid / seedyl gene is defined herein as a nucleic acid or gene encoding a seedyl protein. The terms "seedyl gene", "seedyl nucleic acid" and "nucleic acid encoding a seedyl protein" are used interchangeably in the present invention. The term nucleic acid / seedy gene, as defined in the present invention, also comprises a complement of the sequence and corresponds to RNA, DNA, cDNA or genomic DNA. The seedyl nucleic acid can be synthesized in whole or in part and can be a double-stranded nucleic acid or a single-stranded nucleic acid. The term also includes variants due to the degeneracy of the genetic code and variants that are interrupted by one or more intervening sequences. A nucleic acid / seedyl gene or a seedyl protein can be wild-type, for example a native or endogenous nucleic acid or protein. The nucleic acid can be derived from the same species or from other species, whose nucleic acid is introduced as a transgene, for example by transformation. This transgene can be substantially modified from its native form in composition and / or genomic environment through deliberate human manipulation. The acid can be so derived (either directly or indirectly (if subsequently modified)) from any source with the proviso that the nucleic acid, when expressed in a plant, produces modified plant growth characteristics. The nucleic acid can be isolated from a microbial source, such as bacteria, yeast or fungi, or from a plant, algae, insect, or animal (including human) source. Preferably, the seedyl nucleic acid is isolated from a plant. The nucleic acid can be isolated from a dicotyledonous species, preferably from the Solanaceae family, additionally preferably from Nicotiana. More preferably, the seedyl nucleic acid encodes a seedyl protein as defined above in the present invention. More preferably, the seedyl nucleic acid is as represented by SEQ ID NO: 1, or by a portion thereof, or by a nucleic acid capable of hybridizing to the sequence presented by SEQ ID NO: 1, or is an acid nucleic acid encoding an amino acid represented by SEQ ID NO: 2 or a derivative homologue or active fragment thereof, said homologue has in order to preferably increase at least 20%, 25%, 30%, 35%, 40%, 45% 50%, 55%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, 98% or 99% sequence identity with the sequence represented by SEQ ID NO 2. The present invention provides a method for modifying the growth characteristics of a plant, which comprises modifying the expression in a plant of a nucleic acid encoding a seedyl protein and / or modifying the level and / or activity in a plant of a seedyl protein. , wherein said seedyl protein comprises in the following order from the N-terminal to the C-terminal: (i) a motif that which has at least 80% sequence identity with respect to the sequence presented by SEQ ID NO 15; and (ii) a motif having at least 80% sequence identity with respect to the sequence presented by SEQ ID NO 16, and (iii) a motif having at least 80% sequence identity with respect to the sequence presented by SEQ ID No. 17 and which is a coiled spiral motif; and (iv) a motif having at least 80% sequence identity with respect to the sequence presented by SEQ ID NO 18, wherein the growth characteristics are modified with respect to the growth characteristics of corresponding wild-type plants. The present invention also provides a seedyl protein unknown to date, said seedyl protein comprises in the following order from the N-terminus to the C-terminus: (i) a motif having at least 80% sequence identity with respect to to the sequence presented by SEQ ID NO 15; and (i) a motif having at least 80% sequence identity with respect to the sequence presented by SEQ ID NO 16; and (iii) a motif having at least 80% sequence identity with respect to the sequence presented by SEQ ID NO 17 and said motif is a coiled spiral motif; and (iv) a motif having at least 80% sequence identity with respect to the sequence presented by SEQ ID NO 18, with the proviso that the seedyl protein is not the Arabidopsis protein as deposited in Genbank under the number of access NCBI AL161572 (SEQ ID N0 12). According to a particular embodiment, the reason for compliance with SEQ ID NO: 15 is as represented by: (P / X) X ((V / UH) (Q / H) (V / I) W (N / X ) NA (A / P) (F / C) D, where X can be any amino acid and where (F '/ X) is preferably P or is A or T or Q or another amino acid (V / L / H) preferably it is V or L or H (Q / H) is any Q or H (V / l) is any V or is T or S or another amino acid (A / P) preferably is A or is P (F / C) preferably is F or is C. According to a particular embodiment, the reason for compliance with SEQ ID NO 17 is as represented by: (l / V / A) (D / E) XE (l / M) XX (I? /) (E / Q) XE (l / X) XRL (S / X) (S / X) (R / K) LXXR (L / V / T / I) X (K / Q), where X can be any amino acid and wherein: (I / V / A) is preferably I or V or is A (D / E) is any D or E (l / M) preferably is I or is M (l / V) preferably is I o is V (E / Q) preferably is E or is Q (l / X) preferably is I or is M or is V or any other amino acid (S / X) preferably S or is T or any or amino acid (S / X) preferably esSoesToLoloA (R / K) preferably is R or is K (L / V / T / l) preferably is L or T or V or I (K / Q) preferably is K or Q and said motif is a coiled spiral motif. In accordance with a particular embodiment, the reason for compliance with SEQ ID NO 18 is as represented by: LP (R / K) I (R / X) (T / I) (M / X) (P / R) XX (D / X) (E / G) (S / T) (P / L) RDSG (C / X) (A / X) KR (V / X) (A / I) (D / E) (L / R) (V / X) (G / A) K, wherein X can be any amino acid and wherein (R / K) is any R or K (R / X) preferably is R or is S or K (T / l) preferably is T or I (M / X) preferably is MoLoAoV (P / R) is any P or R (D / X) preferably is DoesGoToN (E / G) preferably is E or is G (SIT) preferably is S or is T (P / L) preferably is P or is L (C / X) preferably is C or is P or A (A / X) preferably is A or is V or I (A / 1) preferably is A or is I ( D / E) is any D or E (L / R) preferably is L or is R (V / X) preferably is V or is Q or N or I (G / A) preferably is G or is A. The present invention it also provides an unknown nucleic acid / seedy gene hitherto selected from: (i) a nucleic acid represented by any of SEQ ID DO NOT: 1, 5 or 7 or the complement of any of the aforementioned; (ü) a nucleic acid encoding an amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 2, 4, 6, 8 or 10; (iii) a nucleic acid encoding a homologue, derivative or active fragment of (i) or (ii) mentioned above; (V) a nucleic acid capable of hybridizing with a nucleic acid of (i), (i) or (iii) mentioned above; (v) a nucleic acid which is degenerate as a result of the genetic code for any of the aforementioned nucleic acids of (i) to (iv); (vi) a nucleic acid which is an allelic variant of any of the nucleic acids of (i) to (v) mentioned above; (vii) a nucleic acid which is an alternative processing variant of any of the nucleic acids of (i) to (vi); (viii) a nucleic acid encoding a protein which has in order of preference increase at least 21%, 22%, 23%, 24%, 25%, 26%, 27%, 28%, 29%, 30% , 31%, 32%, 33%, 34%, 35%, 36%, 37%, 38%, 39%, 40%, 41%, 42%, 43%, 44%, 45%, 46%, 47 %, 48%, 49%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98% or 99% sequence identity with respect to any one or more from the sequences defined in (i) to (v) above; (ix) a portion of a nucleic acid according to any of (i) to (viii) above; wherein the above-mentioned nucleic acids of (i) to (ix) encode a seedyl protein as defined above in the present invention, and with the proviso that the isolated nucleic acid is not a rice cDNA as it is deposited under the number Genbank Accession AK063941 (SEQ ID NO 3), a Medicago BAC clone deposited as AC144618, AC139356, AC144482 or AC135566, the Arabidopsis cDNA deposited under AL61572 (SEQ ID NO 11) or the Zea mays EST deposited under AY108162 (SEQ ID NO 9). Modifying the expression of a seedyl nucleic acid and / or modifying the activity and / or levels of a seedyl protein can be affected by modifying the expression of a gene and / or by modifying the activity and / or levels of a gene product, i.e. a polypeptide, in specific cells or tissues. The term "modification" as used in the present invention (in the context of the modification of the expression, activity and / or levels) means to increase, decrease or change in time or place. The expression, activity and / or modified levels of a seedyl gene or protein are modified in comparison to the expression, activity and / or levels of a seedyl gene or protein in corresponding wild-type plants. Modified expression of the gene can result from the modified expression levels of an endogenous seedyl gene and / or can result from the modified levels of expression of a seedyl gene introduced into a plant. Similarly, the levels and / or activity of a seedyl protein can be modified due to the modified expression of a nucleic acid / seedy gene and / or due to the modified expression of a nucleic acid / seedyl gene introduced within of a plant. The activity of a seedyl protein can be increased by increasing the levels of the protein itself. The activity can also be increased without any increase in the levels of a seedyl protein or even when there is a reduction in the levels of a seedyl protein. This may exist when the intrinsic properties of the polypeptide are altered, for example, by making a mutant form that is more active than the wild type. Mutations can cause conformational changes in a protein, resulting in increased activity and / or levels of a protein. The modified expression of a gene / nucleic acid and / or the modification of the activity and / or levels of a gene product / protein can be affected, for example, by the introduction of a genetic modification (preferably at the locus of a seedyl gene). ). The locus of a gene as defined in the present invention is taken to mean a genomic region which includes the gene of interest and 10 KB upstream or downstream of the coding region. Genetic modification can be introduced, for example, by any one (or more) of the following methods: activation of T-DNA, performing a tilling, site-directed mutagenesis, homologous recombination or by introducing and expressing a nucleic acid encoding a nucleic acid in a plant seedyl protein or a homologue, derivative or active fragment thereof. After the introduction of the genetic modification, a selection step for the increased expression and / or activity and / or levels of a seedyl protein follows, said increase in the expression and / or activity and / or levels produces that the plants have characteristics modified growth. The marking of T-DNA activation (Hayashi et al Science (1992) 1350-1353) involves the insertion of T-DNA that usually contains a promoter (it can also be a translation promoter or an intron), in the genomic reaction of the gene of interest or 10 KB upstream or downstream of the coding region of a gene in a configuration such that the promoter directs the expression of the addressed gene. Typically, the regulation of the expression of the gene targeted by its natural promoter is altered and the promoter falls under the control of the newly introduced promoter. The promoter is typically embedded in a T-DNA. This T-DNA is inserted randomly into the plant genome, for example, through infection with Agrobacterium and leads to over-expression of genes close to the inserted T-DNA. The resulting transgenic plants show dominant phenotypes due to over-expression of the genes close to the introduced promoter. The promoter to be introduced can be any promoter capable of directing the expression of a gene in the desired organism, in this case a plant. For example, all constitutive, tissue-preferred, cell-type and inducible promoters are suitable for use in the activation of T-DNA. A genetic modification can also be introduced into the locus of a seedyl gene using the TILLING technique (Targeted Induced Local Lesions in Genomes - directed local lesions induced in the genome). This is a mutagenesis technology useful for generating and / or identifying, and isolating mutagenized variants of a seedyl nucleic acid. The realization of TILLING also allows the selection of plants that carry such mutant variants. These mutant variants may even exhibit a higher seedyl activity than that exhibited by the gene in its natural form. The realization of TILLING combines high density mutagenesis with high resolution selection methods. The steps that typically follow the completion of TILLING are: (a) mutagenesis by EMS (Redei and Koncz, 1992, Feldmann et al., 1994, Lightner and Gaspar, 1998); (b) DNA preparation and grouping of individuals; (c) PCR amplification of a region of interest; (d) denaturation and fixation to allow heteroduplex formation; (e) DHPLC, wherein the presence of a heteroduplex in a pool is detected as an extra peak in the chromatogram; (f) identification of the individual mutant; and (g) sequencing the mutant PCR product. Methods for carrying out TILLING are well known in the art (McCallum Nat Biotechnol, 2000 April; 18 (4): 455-7, reviewed by Stemple 2004 (TILLING - a high-throughput harvest for functional genomics, Nat Rev Genet. Feb; 5 (2): 145-50.)). Site-directed mutagenesis can be used to generate seedyl nucleic acid variants or portions thereof. Several methods are available to achieve site-directed mutagenesis; the most common being PCR-based methods (current protocols in molecular biology, Wiley Eds. http://www.4ulr.com/products/currentprotocols/index.html). Activation of the T-DNA, the realization of TILLING and site-directed mutagenesis are examples of technologies that allow the generation of novel alleles and nucleic acid of seedyl variants that are therefore useful in the methods of the invention. Homologous recombination allows the introduction into a genome of a selected nucleic acid at a defined selected position. Homologous recombination is a standard technology routinely used in the biological sciences for lower organisms such as yeasts or molds (eg, physcomitrella). Methods for carrying out homologous recombination in plants have been described not only for model plants (Offringa et al., Extrachromosomal homologous recombination and gene targeting in plant cells after Agrobactenum-mediated transformation, 1990 EMBO J. 1990 Oct; 9 (10 ): 3077-84) but also for crop plants, for example rice (Terada R, Urawa H, Inagaki Y, Tsugane K, lida S. Effident gene targeting by homologous recombination in rice, Nat Biotechnol, 2002. lida and Terada: A tale of two integrations, transgene and T-DNA: gene targeting by homologous recombination in rice Curr Opin Biotechnol, 2004 Apr; 15 (2): 132-8). The nucleic acid to be addressed does not necessarily have to be directed to the locus of a seedyl gene, but can be introduced into, for example, high expression regions. The nucleic acid to be addressed may be an improved allele used to replace the endogenous gene or it may be introduced in addition to the endogenous gene. A preferred method for the introduction of a genetic modification is to introduce and express - in a plant a nucleic acid / seedyl gene or a portion thereof, or sequences capable of hybridizing with the nucleic acid / seedy gene, said nucleic acid encodes a seedyl protein or a homologue, derivative or active fragment thereof. In this case, the genetic modification does not have to be performed at the locus of a seedyl gene. The nucleic acid can be introduced into a plant by, for example, transformation. Accordingly, the present invention provides a method for modifying the growth characteristics of a plant, comprising introducing and expressing in a plant a nucleic acid / seedyl gene or a portion thereof, or sequences capable of hybridizing with the acid nucleic acid / seedy gene, said nucleic acid encodes a seedyl protein or a homologue, derivative or active fragment thereof. Advantageously, the methods according to the invention can also be practiced using nucleic acid variants and amino acid variants of SEQ ID NO 1 or 2 respectively. The term seedyl nucleic acid or seedyl protein comprises variants of nucleic acids and amino acid variants. Nucleic acid variants encode seedyl proteins as defined in the present invention above, for example those comprising in the following order N-terminal towards the C-terminal: (i) a motif having at least 80% sequence identity with respect to the sequence presented by SEQ ID NO 15; and (ii) a motif having at least 80% sequence identity with respect to the sequence presented by SEQ ID NO 16; and (iii) a motif having at least 80% sequence identity with respect to the sequence presented by SEQ ID NO 17, and said motif is a coiled spiral motif; and (iv) a motif having at least 80% sequence identity with respect to the sequence presented by SEQ ID NO 18, and (as variants of seedyl proteins are those which comprise in the following order from the N-terminal to the C-terminal: (i) a motif having at least 80% sequence identity with respect to the sequence presented by SEQ ID NO 15, and (ii) a motif having at least 80% sequence identity with respect to to the sequence presented by SEQ ID NO 16, and (iii) a motif having at least 80% sequence identity with respect to the sequence presented by SEQ ID NO 17, and said motif is a coiled spiral motif; iv) a motif having at least 80% sequence identity with respect to the sequence presented by SEQ ID NO 18. Suitable variants of nucleic acid and amino acid sequences in the practice of the method according to the invention include: (i) Portions of a nucleic acid / seedy gene; (ii) Sequences capable of hybridizing with a nucleic acid / seedy gene; (iii) Alternative processing variants of a nucleic acid / seedyl gene; (iv) Allelic variants of a nucleic acid / seedyl gene; (v) Homologs, derivatives and active fragments of a seedyl protein. An example of a seedyl nucleic acid variant is a portion of a seedyl nucleic acid. The methods according to the invention can be practiced advantageously using functional portions of a seedyl nucleic acid. A portion refers to a piece of DNA derived or prepared from an original (larger) DNA molecule, said portion of DNA, when introduced and expressed in a plant, produces plants that have modified growth characteristics and said portion encodes a seedyl protein as defined above in the present invention. The portion may comprise many genes, with or without additional control elements or may contain spawning sequences. The portion can be made by making one or more deletions and / or truncations to the nucleic acid. Techniques for the introduction of truncations and deletions within a nucleic acid are well known in the art. The portions suitable for use in the methods according to the invention can be easily determined by following the methods described in the examples section by simply replacing the sequence used in the current example with the portion to be evaluated for functionality. An example of a further variant of seedyl nucleic acid is a sequence that is capable of hybridizing with a seedyl nucleic acid as defined above in the present invention, for example to a seedyl nucleic acid as represented by any of SEQ. ID NO 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 or 11. Said sequences for hybridization are those that encode a seedyl protein as defined above in the present invention. Hybridization sequences suitable for use in the methods according to the invention can be easily determined for example by following the methods described in the examples section by simply replacing the sequence used in the current example with the sequence for hybridization. The term "hybridization" as defined in the present invention is a process in which the substantially homologous complementary nucleotide sequences are fixed to each other. The hybridization process can occur completely in solution, for example both complementary nucleic acids are in solution. The molecular biology tools that depend on these processes include the polymerase chain reaction (PCR); and all methods based on it), hybridization by subtraction, extension of the random primer, S1 nuclease mapping, primer extension, reverse transcription, cDNA synthesis, differential display of RNAs, and determination of the DNA sequence. The hybridization process can also be presented with one of the complementary nucleic acids immobilized on a matrix such as magnetic beads, sepharose beads or any other resin. The molecular biology tools that depend on these processes include the isolation of poly (A +) mRNA. The hybridization process can be further presented with one of the complementary nucleic acids immobilized on a solid support such as a nitrocellulose or nylon membrane or immobilized by for example photolithography to eg a siliceous glass support (the latter known as arrays or nucleic acid microarrays or as nucleic acid fragments). Molecular biology tools that depend on these processes include DNA and DNA gel blot analysis, colony hybridization, plaque hybridization, in situ hybridization and microarray hybridization. In order to allow hybridization to occur, the nucleic acid molecules are generally thermally or chemically denatured to fuse a double chain into two single chains and / or remove hairpins or other secondary structures from the single chain nucleic acids. The severity of the hybridization is influenced by conditions such as temperature, salt concentration and composition of the pH regulator for hybridization. High stringency conditions for hybridization include high temperature and / or low salt concentration (the salts include NaCl and Na3-citrate) and / or the inclusion of formamide in the pH regulator for hybridization and / or the decrease in the concentration of the compounds such as SDS (detergent) in the pH regulator for hybridization and / or the exclusion of compounds such as dextran sulfate or polyethylene glycol (which promotes molecular grouping) from the pH regulator for hybridization. Conventional conditions for hybridization are described in, for example, Sambrook (2001) Molecular Cloning: A laboratory manual, 3rd Edition Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, CSH, New York, but one skilled in the art will appreciate that numerous different conditions can be designed for hybridization depending on the known or expected homology and / or the length of the nucleic acid. Particularly preferred are hybridization conditions with sufficiently low severity (at least in the first case) to isolate the heterologous nucleic acids from the DNA sequences of the above defined invention. An example of low severity conditions is 4-6x SSC / 0.1-0.5% p / v SDS at 37-45 ° C for 2-3 hours. Depending on the source and concentration of the nucleic acid involved in the hybridization, alternative conditions of severity, such as conditions of medium severity, may be employed. Examples of medium severity conditions include 1-4x SSC / 0.25% w / v SDS at 45 ° C for 2-3 hours. An example of high severity conditions includes 0.1-1x SSC / 0.1% w / v SDS at 60 ° C for 1-3 hours. The person skilled in the art will be aware of various parameters which can be altered during hybridization and washing and which will already maintain or change the conditions of the severity. Severity conditions may start low and progressively may increase until a seedyl nucleic acid is provided for hybridization, as defined above in the present invention. The elements that contribute to heterology include allelism, degeneration of the genetic code and differences in the preferred use of the codon. Another example of a seedyl variant is an alternative processing variant of a nucleic acid / seedyl gene. The methods according to the present invention can also be practiced using an alternative processing variant of a seedyl nucleic acid. The term "alternative processing variant" as used in the present invention comprises variants of a nucleic acid in which the selected neutrons and / or exons have been cleaved., replaced or added. Said processing variants can be found in nature or can be made by man using techniques well known in the art. Preferably, the processing variant is a processing variant of a sequence represented by any of SEQ ID NO 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 or 11. Processing variants suitable for use in the methods according to the invention can be easily determine for example by following the methods described in the examples section by simply replacing the sequence used in the current example with the processing variant. Another example of a seedyl variant is an allelic variant.

Advantageously, the methods according to the present invention can also be practiced using allelic variants of a seedyl nucleic acid, preferably an allelic variant of a seedyl nucleic acid sequence represented by any of SEQ ID NO 1, 3, 5 , 7, 9 or 11. The allelic variants that exist in nature and fall within the methods of the present invention is the use of these natural alleles isolated in the methods according to the invention. Allelic variants comprise single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), as well as small insertion / deletion polymorphisms (INDELs). The size of the INDELs is usually less than 100 bp). SNPs and INDELs form the largest series of sequence variants in polymorphic strains that occur naturally in most organisms. The allelic variants suitable for use in the methods according to the invention can be easily determined for example by following the methods described in the examples section by simply replacing the sequence used in the current example with the allelic variant. Examples of seedyl amino acid variants include homologues, derivatives and active fragments of a seedyl protein, preferably of a seedyl protein as represented by any of SEQ ID NO 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 or 12. Homologs, Active derivatives and fragments of a seedyl protein are those that comprise in the following order from the N-terminal to the C-terminal: (i) a motif having at least 80% sequence identity with respect to the sequence presented by SEQ ID. NO 15; and (i) a motif having at least 80% sequence identity with respect to the sequence presented by SEQ ID NO 16; and (ii) a motif having at least 80% sequence identity with respect to the sequence presented by SEQ ID NO 17, and said motif is a coiled spiral motif; and (iv) a motif having at least 80% sequence identity with respect to the sequence presented by SEQ ID NO 18. Preferred homologs, derivatives and active fragments of seedyl have a coiled coiled domain, preferably located in the middle N-terminal of the protein, more preferably at the position of amino acid 25 to 250, more preferably between position 50 and 150. A coiled coiled domain typically determines the folding of the protein. The "homologues" of a seedyl protein comprise peptides, oligopeptides, polypeptides, proteins and enzymes having amino acid substitutions, deletions and / or insertions in relation to the unmodified protein in question and having similar biological and functional activities as the non-protein. modified from which they are derived. To produce such homologs, the amino acids of the protein can be replaced by other amino acids that have similar properties (such as similar hydrophobicity, hydrophilicity, antigenicity, propensity to form or break up helical structures or β-sheet structures). The conservative substitution tables are well known in the art (see for example Creighton (1984) Proteins, W. H. Freeman and Company). Homologues of a seedyl protein have a percent identity with respect to any of SEQ ID NO 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 or 12 equal to a value lying between 20% and 99.99%, for example in order of increasing preference of at least 20%, 21%, 22%, 23%, 24%, 25%, 26%, 27%, 28%, 29%, 30%, 31%, 32%, 33%, 34%, 35 %, 36%, 37%, 38%, 39%, 40%, 41%, 42%, 43%, 44%, 45%, 46%, 47%, 48%, 49%, or 50% identity of sequence or similarly (functional identity) with respect to the unmodified protein, alternatively at least 60% sequence identity or similarity to an unmodified protein, alternatively at least 70% sequence identity or similarity to an unmodified protein .

Typically, the homologs have at least 75% or 80% sequence identity or similarity with an unmodified protein, preferably at least 85%, 86%, 87%, 88%, 89% sequence identity or similarity, preferably in a manner additional at least 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94% sequence identity or similarity to an unmodified protein, more preferably at least 95%, 96%, 97%, 98% or 99% identity of sequence or similarity with an unmodified protein. Percentage identities are presented when comparing total length sequences. Homologs suitable for use in the methods according to the invention can be easily determined for example by following the methods described in the examples section by simply replacing the sequence used in the current example with the homologous sequence. The sequence identity can be calculated using an alignment program, such alignment programs are well known in the art. For example, the identity percentage can be calculated using the GAP program, or needle (EMBOSS package) or stretcher (EMBOSS package) or the align X program, as a module of the NTI series 5.5 vector software package, using the standard parameters ( for example sanction for space 5, sanction for opening space 15, sanction for extension of space 6.6). Methods for searching and identifying seedyl homologs or DNA sequences encoding a seedyl homologue, could be within the realm of persons skilled in the art. Said methods include databases for sequence selection with the sequence as provided by the present invention in SEQ ID NO 1 and 2 or 3 to 10, preferably a format capable of being read by a computer of the nucleic acids of the present invention. This sequence information is available for example in public databases, which include but are not limited to Genbank (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/web/Genbank), the European Molecular Biology Laboratory Nucleic acid Datábase (EMBL) (http: /w.ebi.ac.uk/ebi-docs/embl-db.htmI) or versions thereof or the MIPS database (http://mips.gsf.de/) . Different sequence and software algorithms for the alignment and comparison of sequences are well known in the art. Said software includes GAP, BESTFIT, BLAST, FASTA and TFASTA. GAP uses the algorithm of Needleman and Wunsch (J. Mol. Biol. 48: 443-453, 1970) to find the alignment of two complete sequences that maximizes the number of matches and minimizes the number of spaces. The BLAST algorithm calculates the percent sequence identity and performs a statistical analysis of the similarity between the two sequences. The series of programs referred to as BLAST programs have 5 different implementations: three designed for searches of nucleotide sequences (BLASTN, BLASTX, and TBLASTX) and two designed for protein sequence searches (BLASTP and TBLASTN) (Coulson, Trends In Biotechnology: 76-80, 1994; Birren et al., Genome Analysis, 1: 543, 1997). The software to carry out the BLAST analysis is available to the public through the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

The homologs of SEQ ID NO 2 can be found in many different organisms. The closest homologs are found in the plant kingdom. For example, seedyl proteins were isolated from tobacco in (SEQ ID NO 2), rice (SEQ ID NO 4), medicago (SEQ ID NO 6), sugar cane (SEQ ID NO 8), corn (SEQ ID NO. NO 10) and from Arabidopsis (SEQ ID NO 12). In addition, ESTs from other organisms have been deposited in Genbank, for example an EST from Vitis vinifera (accession number CA816066), from Pinus taeda (accession number BM903108), from Saccharus sp. (Accession numbers CA228193 and CA256020), from Citrus sinsensis (access number CF833583), Plumbago zeylanica (accession number CB817788), from Zea mays (access number CF637447, AW282224, CD058812, AY108162, CD059048, CF041861 , AW067243), from Triticum aestivum (CA727065, BJ264506, BJ259034), from Hordeum vulgare (accession number BU997034, CA727065, CA031127, BQ762011), from Brassica napus (CD817460) from Gossypium arboreum (BG446106 , BM360339), from Eschscholzia californica (CD478368), from Populus tremula (BU821376) and from Beta vulgates (BQ594009). As more genomes are sequenced, many more seedyl homologs will be identified. The identification of domains or motifs could also be within the scope of a person skilled in the art and includes, for example, a format capable of being read by a computer of the nucleic acids of the present invention, the use of software programs for alignment and the use of information available to the public on protein domains, motifs and conserved boxes. This information of the protein domain is available in the PRODOM database (http://www.biochem.ucl.ac.uk/bsm/dbbrowser/jji/prodomsrchjj.html), PIR (http://pir.georgetown.edu/) or pFAM (http: //pfam.wustl. edu /). Sequence analysis programs designed for the search of motifs can be useful for identifying fragments, regions and conserved domains as mentioned above. Preferred computer programs could include but are not limited to MEME, SIGNALSCAN, and GENESCAN. A MEME algorithm (Version 3.0) can be found in the GCG package; or on the Internet site http://www.sdsc.edu/MEME/meme. The SIGNALSCAN version 4.0 information is available on the Internet site http://biosci.cbs.umn.edu/software/sigscan.html. GENESCAN can be found on the website http://gnomic.stanford.edu/GENESCANW.html. Two special forms of homology, orthologous and paralog, are evolutionary concepts used to describe ancestral relationships of genes. The term "paralog" refers to the applications of genes within the genome of a species. The term "ortholog" refers to homologous genes in different organisms due to the ancestral relationship and the formation of different species. The term "homologous" as defined in the present invention also comprises paralogs and orthologs. Otologists can be easily found in, for example, monocot plant species when conducting a search called reciprocal blast. This can be done by a first blast search that includes subjecting the sequence in question (for example, SEQ ID NO: 1 or SEQ ID NO: 2) to a blast search against any sequence database, such as the base of data available to the NCBI public which can be found at: http://www.ncbi.nim.nih.gov. If orthologs are sought in rice, the sequence in question could be subjected to blast search against, for example, cDNA clones of 28,469 total length from Oryza sativa Nipponbare available from NCBI. BLASTn or tBLASTX can be used when starting from nucleotides or BLAST or TBLASTN when starting from the protein, with standard default values. The results of the blast search can be filter. The total length sequences of any of the filtered results or the unfiltered results are again subjected to the blast search (second blast search) against the sequences of the organism from which the sequence in question is derived. The results of the first search blast and the second search blast are then incorporated. An ortholog is found when the results of the second blast search occur as hits with the greatest similarity to a seedyl or protein nucleic acid; If one of the organisms is tobacco, then a paralog is found. In the case of large families, ClustalW can be used, followed by a neighbor union tree, to help visualize the grouping. Examples of homologues of a seedyl protein in accordance with SEQ ID NO: 2 include a seedyl protein as represented by SEQ ID NO 4 (rice), SEQ ID NO 8 (sugar cane) and SEQ ID NO 10 (corn) , SEQ ID NO 6 (medicago) and SEQ ID NO 12 (Arabidopsis). The proteins represented by SEQ ID NO 8 (sugar cane) and SEQ ID NO 10 (corn) are only partial, but the corresponding sequences of total length of the proteins and which encode the cDNA can be easily determined by a person skilled in the art. technique using routine techniques, such as colony hybridization of a cDNA library or using PCR based on the use of specific primers combined with degenerate primers. Another variant of seedyl useful in the methods of the present invention is a seedyl derivative. The term "derivatives" refers to peptides, oligopeptides, polypeptides, proteins and enzymes which may comprise substitutions, deletions or additions of amino acid residues that occur naturally and do not occur naturally in comparison with the sequence of amino acids of a naturally occurring form of the protein, for example, as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 2. The "derivatives" of a seedyl protein comprise peptides, oligopeptides, polypeptides, proteins and enzymes which may comprise residues of modified amino acids that occur naturally, glycosylated, acetylated or amino acid residues that do not occur naturally compared to the amino acid sequence of a naturally occurring form of the polypeptide. A derivative may also comprise one or more non-amino acid substituents in comparison to the amino acid sequence from which it is derived, for example a reporter molecule or another ligand, covalently or non-covalently bound to the amino acid sequence such as, for example , a reporter molecule which binds to facilitate its detection, and amino acid residues that do not occur naturally in relation to the amino acid sequence of a protein that occurs naturally. "Substitution variants" of a protein are those in which at least one residue in an amino acid sequence has been removed and a different residue inserted in its place. Amino acid substitutions are typically from particular residues, but may be grouped depending on functional constraints placed on the polypeptide; the insertions will usually be of the order of about 1 to 10 amino acid residues, and the deletions will have a range of about 1 to 20 residues. Preferably, the amino acid substitutions comprise conservative amino acid substitutions. "Insertion variants" of a protein are those in which one or more amino acid residues are introduced into a predetermined site in a protein. The inserts can comprise amino-terminal and / or carboxy-terminal fusions as well as intra-sequence insertions of particular or multiple amino acids. Generally, the insertions within the amino acid sequence will be smaller than the amino- or carboxy-terminal fusions, in the order of approximately 1 to 10 residues. Examples of amino- or carboxy-terminal fusion proteins or peptides include the binding domain or the activation domain of a transcriptional activator as used in the yeast double hybrid system, proteins with phage coating, mark (histidine) ) 6, glutathione S-transferase label, protein A, maltose binding protein, dihydrofolate reductase, 100 mark epitope, c-myc epitope, FLAG® epitope, lacZ, CMP (calmodulin-binding peptides), epitope HA, epitope C protein and VSV epitope. The "deletion variants" of a protein are characterized by the removal of one or more amino acids from the protein. The amino acid variants of a protein can be easily made using synthetic peptide techniques well known in the art, such as solid phase peptide synthesis and the like, or by recombinant DNA manipulations. Methods for manipulating DNA sequences to produce substitution, insertion or deletion variants of a protein are well known in the art. For example, techniques for the development of substitution mutations at predetermined sites in DNA are well known to those skilled in the art and include M13 mutagenesis, in vitro mutagenesis of T7-Gen (USB, Cleveland, OH), site-directed mutagenesis QuickChange (Stratagene, San Diego, CA), PCR-mediated mutagenesis or other site-directed mutagenesis protocols.Another variant of a seedyl protein / amino acid useful in the methods of the present invention is an active fragment of a seedyl protein. The "active fragments" of a seedyl protein comprise contiguous amino acid residues of a seedyl protein, said residues retain similar biological and / or functional activity with respect to the naturally occurring protein. Useful fragments are those that fall within the definition of a seedyl protein as defined above in the present invention. Preferably, the fragments start in one of the second or third or traditional internal residue of methionine. These fragments originate from the translation of the protein, starting at the internal ATG codons. To determine the presence of conserved motifs, the sequences are aligned using suitable software, such as Align X or clustal X, for indication of conserved residues (see for example figure 3). Software packages similar to MEME version 3.0 can also be used to determine the motifs in the sequences. This software is available from UCSD, SDSC and NBCR at http://meme.sdsc.edu/meme/. For the identification of a coiled spiral domain, the Coils 2.0 software can be used. This software is available at http://www.ch.embnet.org/software/COILS form.html. The 'X' in the motifs represented by SEQ ID NO 15, 16, 17 and 18 represents any amino acid.

In accordance with a preferred aspect of the present invention, improved or increased expression of a seedyl nucleic acid in a plant or plant part is considered. Methods for obtaining increased expression of genes or gene products are well documented in the art and include, for example, over-expression directed by a (strong) promoter, the use of transcription enhancers or translation enhancers. The term "over-expression" as used in the present invention means any form of expression that is additional to the original expression level of wild-type. Preferably the seedyl nucleic acid is in the sense direction with respect to the promoter to which it is operatively associated. Alternatively, the selection of alleles that have a better performance of seedyl wild-type nucleic acid can be achieved via plant crossing techniques. The expression of a seedyl gene can be investigated by Northern or Southern blot analysis of cell extracts. The levels of a seedyl protein in cells can be investigated using Western blot analysis of cell extracts. In accordance with a further embodiment of the present invention, genetic constructs and vectors are provided to facilitate the introduction and / or expression of the nucleotide sequences useful in the methods according to the invention. Therefore, the present invention provides a genetic construct comprising: (i) A seedyl nucleic acid encoding a seedyl protein as defined above in the present invention; (ii) one or more control sequences capable of regulating the expression of the nucleic acid of (i); and optionally (iii) a sequence for terminating transcription. In accordance with the methods of the present invention, said genetic construct is introduced into a plant or plant part. Constructs useful in the methods according to the present invention can be made using recombinant DNA technology well known to those skilled in the art. Gene constructs can be inserted into vectors, which can be commercially available, suitable for transformation within plants and suitable for the expression of the gene of interest in the transformed cells. The genetic construct can be an expression vector wherein said nucleic acid is operatively associated with one or more control sequences that allow expression in prokaryotic and / or eukaryotic host cells. The nucleic acid according to (i) can be any seedyl nucleic acid as defined above in the present invention, preferably a seedyl nucleic acid as represented by any of SEQ ID NO 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 or 11. The control sequence of (ii) is preferably a preferred seed promoter, for example a prolamine promoter. . The plants are transformed with a vector comprising the sequence of interest, said sequence being operatively associated with one or more control sequences (at least one promoter). The terms "regulatory element", "control sequence" are all used interchangeably in the present invention and are considered in a broad context to refer to regulatory nucleic acids capable of carrying out the expression of the sequences to which they are linked (for example, operatively associated). Encompassed by the terms mentioned above are the promoters. A "promoter" encompasses transcriptional regulatory sequences derived from a classical genome of the eukaryotic genome (including the TATA box which is required for the precise initiation of transcription, with or without a CCAAT box sequence) and additional regulatory elements (eg. example upstream activating sequences, enhancers and silencers) which alter gene expression in response to developmental and / or external stimuli, or in a tissue-specific manner. Also included within the term is a transcriptional regulatory sequence of a classical prokaryotic gene, in which case it may include a regulatory transcriptional regulatory sequence -35 and / or -10. The term "regulatory element" also comprises a synthetic fusion molecule or derivative which confers, activated or enhanced expression of a nucleic acid molecule in a cell, tissue or organ. The term "operatively associated" as used in the present invention refers to a functional link between the promoter sequence and the gene of interest, such that the promoter sequence is capable of initiating the transcription of the gene of interest. Advantageously, any type of promoter can be used to direct the expression of the seedyl nucleic acid. Preferably, the nucleic acid capable of modifying the expression of a seedyl gene is operatively associated with a promoter derived from plant, preferably a promoter derived from a preferred tissue plant. The term "tissue preferred" as defined in the present invention refers to a promoter that is predominantly expressed in at least one tissue or organ. Preferably, the preferred tissue promoter is a preferred seed promoter or seed specific promoter, preferably additionally a preferred endosperm promoter, more preferably a promoter isolated from a gene encoding a protein for seed storage, more preferably a promoter isolated from a prolamin gene, such as a rice prolamin promoter as represented by SEQ ID NO 14 or a similar force promoter and / or a promoter with a similar expression pattern as the promoter of prolamina of rice. A similar force pattern and / or similar expression can be analyzed, for example, by coupling the promoters to a reporter gene and monitoring the function of the reporter gene in plant tissues. A well-known reporter gene is beta-glucuronidase and the GUS colorimetric stain used to visualize the activity of beta-glucuronidase in plant tissue. Examples of preferred seed-specific promoters and other tissue-specific promoters are present in Table A, said promoters or derivatives thereof are useful for carrying out the methods of the present invention. TABLE A Examples of preferred seed promoters for use in the present invention Optionally, one or more terminator sequences can also be used in the construction introduced within a plant. The term "terminator" comprises a control sequence which is a DNA sequence at the end of a transcriptional unit which signals the 3 'processing and polyadenylation of a primary transcript and the termination of transcription. Additional regulatory elements may include transcriptional enhancers as well as translational enhancers. Those skilled in the art will be aware of the terminator and enhancer sequences, which may be suitable for use in the embodiment of the invention. Said sequences could be known or easily obtained by a person skilled in the art. The genetic constructs of the invention may additionally include a sequence of origin of replication which is required for maintenance and / or replication in a specific cell type. An example is when a genetic construct to be maintained in a bacterial cell is required as an episomal genetic element (eg, plasmid or cosmid molecule). The preferred origins of replication include, but are not limited to, f1 -ori and colE1. The genetic construct may optionally comprise a selection marker gene. As used in the present invention, the term "selection marker gene" includes any gene which confers a phenotype on a cell in which it is expressed to facilitate the identification and / or selection of cells which are transfected or transformed with a nucleic acid construct of the invention. Suitable markers can be selected from markers that confer antibiotic resistance or herbicide, that introduce a new metabolic trait or that allow visual selection. Examples of gene selection markers include genes that confer resistance to antibiotics (such as nptll that phosphorylates neomycin and kanamycin, or hpt, which phosphorylates hygromycin), to herbicides (eg, bar which provides resistance to Basta: aroA or gox that provides resistance against glyphosate), or genes that provide a metabolic trait (such as manA that allows plants to use mannose as the sole source of carbon). Visual marker genes result in color formation (eg, β-glucuronidase, GUS), luminescent (such as luciferase) or fluorescent (green fluorescent protein, GFP-, and derivatives thereof). In a preferred embodiment, the genetic construct comprises a prolamin promoter from rice operatively associated with a seedyl nucleic acid in sense orientation. An example of said expression cassette, further comprising a terminator sequence, is as represented by SEQ ID NO 13. In accordance with a further embodiment of the present invention, a method is provided for the production of a plant having characteristics of modified growth, which comprises modifying the expression and or the activity and / or levels in a plant of a seedyl nucleic acid or seedyl protein. In accordance with a particular embodiment, the present invention provides a method for the production of a transgenic plant having modified growth characteristics, said method comprising: (i) the introduction into a plant or plant part of a seedyl nucleic acid which encodes a seedyl protein; (ii) cultivate the plant cell under conditions that promote the regeneration and growth of the mature plant. The nucleic acid of (i) can advantageously be any of the aforementioned seedyl nucleic acids. The protein itself and / or the nucleic acid itself can be introduced directly into a plant cell or into the plant itself (including introduction into a tissue, organ or any other part of the plant). In accordance with a preferred feature of the present invention, the nucleic acid is preferably introduced into a plant by transformation. The term "transformation" as referred to in the present invention comprises the transfer of an exogenous polynucleotide within a host cell, without taking into account the method used for the transfer. The plant tissue is capable of subsequent clonal propagation, either by organogenesis or embryogenesis, it can be transformed with a genetic construct of the present invention and a complete plant generated therefrom. The particular tissue chosen will vary depending on the clonal propagation systems available for, and suitable for, the particular species to be transformed. Examples of white tissue include leaf discs, pollen, embryos, cotyledons, hypocotyledons, megagametophytes, callus tissue, existing meristematic tissue (e.g., apical meristem, axillary buds, and root meristems), and induced meristem tissue ( for example, cotyledon meristem and hypocotyledon meristem). The polynucleotide can be transiently or stably introduced into a host cell and can be maintained non-integrated, for example, as a plasmid. Alternatively and preferably, the transgene can be stably integrated into the host genome. The resulting transformed plant cell can then be used to regenerate a transformed plant in a manner known to those skilled in the art. The transformation of a plant species today is a clearly routine technique. Advantageously, any of the various transformation methods can be used to introduce the gene of interest into a suitable ancestral cell. Transformation methods include the use of liposomes, electroporation, chemicals that increase the intake of free DNA, injection of DNA directly into the plant, bombardment by particle gun, transformation using virus or pollen and microprojection. The methods can be selected from the calcium / polyethylene glycol method for protoplasts (Krens, F. A. et al., 1882, Nature 296, 72-74; Negrutiul. et al., June 1987, Plant Mol. Biol. 8, 363-373); electroporation of protoplasts (Shillito R. D. et al., 1985 Bio / technol 3, 1099-1102); microinjection within plant material (Crossway A. et al., 1986, Mol Gen Genet 202, 179-185); bombarded with particles coated by DNA or RNA (Klein T. M. et al., 1987, Nature 327, 70) infection with viruses (non-integrative) viruses and the like.

Transgenic rice plants expressing a seedyl gene are preferably produced via Agrobacterium-mediated transformation using any of the well-known methods for rice transformation, such as those described in any of the following: Published European Patent Applications EP 1198985A1, Aldemita and Hodges (Plant, 199, 612-617, 1996); Chan et al. (Plant Mol. Biol. 22 (3) 491-506, 1993), Hiei et al. (Plant J. 6 (2) 271-282, 1994), said descriptions are incorporated by reference in the present invention as if they were fully established. In the case of corn transformation, the preferred method is as described in any Ishida et al. (Nat. Biotechnol, 1996 June; 14 (6): 745-50) or Frame et al. (Plant Physiol., 2002 May; 129 (1): 13-22), said descriptions are incorporated by reference in the present invention as if they were fully established. Generally after transformation, plant cells or groups of cells are selected for the presence of one or more markers which are encoded by the genes that are expressed in plants co-transferred with the gene of interest, after which the transformed material it regenerates towards a complete plant. After DNA transfer and regeneration, transformed putative plants can be evaluated, for example using Southern analysis, for the presence of the gene of interest, number of copies and / or genomic organization. Alternatively or additionally, the levels of expression of the newly introduced DNA can be monitored using Northern and / or Western analysis, both techniques being well known to those skilled in the art. The transformed transformed plants can be propagated by a variety of means, such as biclonal propagation or classical cross breeding techniques. For example, a first generation of transformed plants (or T1) can be mixed with itself to produce a second generation of homozygous (or T2) transformants, and the T2 plants are further propagated through the classical cross breeding techniques. The transformed organisms generated can take a variety of forms. For example, they can be chimeras of transformed cells and non-transformed cells; clonal transformants (e.g., all cells transformed to contain the expression cassette); grafts from transformed and untransformed tissues (for example, in plants, a transformed rhizome grafted to an untransformed sapling). The present invention also comprises plants obtained by the methods according to the present invention. Therefore, the present invention provides plants that are obtained by the method according to the present invention, said plants have modified growth characteristics, when compared with wild-type plants. The present invention clearly extends to any plant cell or plant produced by any of the methods, and to all plant parts and propagules thereof. The present invention extends further to comprise the progeny of a transformed or transfected primary cell, tissue, organ or primary plant that has been produced by any of the aforementioned methods, the only requirement being that the progeny exhibit the same characteristic (s). ) genotypic and / or phenotypic, those produced in the parents by the methods according to the invention for example having modified growth characteristics. Accordingly the invention also includes host cells comprising a nucleic acid isolated from seedyl as defined above in the present invention. Preferred host cells according to the invention are plant cells or cells from insects, animals, yeasts, fungi, algae or bacteria. The invention also extends to the harvestable parts of a plant, such as but limited to seeds, flowers, stamen, leaves, petals, fruits, stem, stem crops, rhizomes, roots, tubers and bulbs. The term "plant" as used in the present invention comprises whole plants, ancestors and progeny of plants and plant parts, including seeds, offshoots, stems, roots (including tubers), and plant cells, tissues and organs. Therefore the term "plant" also comprises suspension cultures, embryos, meristematic regions, callus tissue, leaves, gametophytes, sporophytes, pollen, and microspores. Plants that are particularly useful in the methods of the invention include all plants belonging to the Viridiplantae superfamily, in particular monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous plants including a legume forage or legume for forage, ornamental plant, crop for food, tree, or selected shrub from the list comprising Acacia spp., Acer spp., Actinidia spp., Aesculus spp., Agathisaustralis, Albizia amara, Alsophila tricolor, Andropogon spp., Arachis spp., Areca catechu, Astelia fragrans, Astragalus cicer, Baikiaea plurijuga, Betula spp., Brassica spp., Bruguiera gymnorrhiza, Burkea afiicana, Butee frondosa, Cadaba fafinosa, Calliandra spp., Camellia sinensis, Canna indica, Capsicum spp., Cassia spp., Centroema pubescens, Chaenomeles spp., Cinnamomum cassia, Coffea arabica, Colophospermum mopane, Coronillia varia, Cotoneaster serotype, Crataegus spp., Cucumis spp., Cupressus spp., Cyathea dealbata, Cydonia oblonga, Cryptomeria japa nica, Cymbopogon spp., Cynthea dealbata, Cydonia oblonga, Monetary Dalbergia, Davallia divaricata, Desmodium spp., Dicksonia squarosa, Diheteropogon amplectens, Dioclea spp., Dolichos spp., Dorycnium rectum, Echinochlora pyramidalis, Ehrartia spp., Eleusine coracana, Eragrestis spp. ., Erythrina spp., Eucalyptus spp., Euclea schimperi, Eulalia villosa, Fagopyrum spp., Feijoo sellowiana, Fragaria spp., Flemingia spp., Freycinetia banksii, Geranium thunbergii, Ginko biloba, Glycine javanica, Gliricidia spp, Gossypium hirsutum, Grevillea spp. ., Guibourtia coleosperma, Hedysarun spp., Hemarthia high, Heteropogon contortus, Hordeum vulgare, Hyparrhenia rufa, Hypericum erectum, Hyperthelia dissolute, Indigo incamata, Iris spp., Leptarrhena pyrilifolia, Lespediza spp., Letucca spp., Leucaena leucocephala, Loudetia simple , Lotonus bainesii, Lotus spp., Macrotyloma axillare, Malus spp., Manihot esculenta, Medicago sativa, Metasequoia glyptostroboides, Musa sapientum, Nicotiana spp., Onobrychi spp., Ornithopus spp., Oryza spp., Peltophorum africanum, Pennisetum spp., Persea gratissima, Petunia spp., Phaseolus spp., Phoenix canariensis, Phormium cookianum, Photinia spp., Picea glauca, Pinus spp., Pisum sativum, Podocarpus totara, Pogonarthria fleckii, Pogonarthria squarrosa, Populus spp., Prosopis cineraria, Pseudotsuga menziesii, Pterolobium stellatum, Pyrus communis, Quercus spp., Rhaphiolepsis umbellata, Rhopalostylis sapida, Rhus natalensis, Ribes grossularia, Ribes spp., Robinia pseudoacacia, Rosa spp. ., Rubis spp., Salix spp., Schyzachyrium sanguineum, Sciadopitys verticillata, Sequoia sempervirens, Sequoiadendron giganteum, Sorghum bicolor, Spinacia spp., Sporobolus fimbriatus, Stiburus alopercuroides, Stylosanthos humilis, Tadehagi spp., Taxodium distichum, Themeda triandra, Trifolium spp. ., Triticum spp., Tsuga heterophylla, Vaccinium spp., Vicia spp., Vitis vinifera, Watsonia pyramiclata, Zantedeschia aethiopica, Zea mays, amaranth, artichoke, asparagus, broccoli i, Brussels pumpkins, pumpkins, cañola, carrot, cauliflower, celery, kale, flax, cabbage, lentil, rapeseed oil, okra, onion, potato, rice, soybeans, strawberry, sugar beet, cane sugar, sunflower, tomato, pumpkin, tea, trees. Alternatively algae and other non-Viridiplantae can be used for the methods of the present invention. In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the plant is a harvest plant such as soybeans, sunflower, cañola, alfalfa, rapeseed, cotton, tomato, potato or tobacco. Additionally preferably, the plant is a monocotyledonous plant, such as sugarcane. More preferably the plant is a cereal, such as rice, corn, wheat, barley, millet, rye, sorghum or oats. Advantageously, the present invention provides a method for modifying the growth characteristics of a plant, said modified growth characteristics being selected from any one or more of increased production, increased biomass, modified plant architecture. Additionally preferably, increased production is increased seed production. The term "increased production" comprises an increase in biomass in one or more harvestable parts of a plant relative to the total biomass of corresponding wild-type plants. The term also includes an increase in seed production, which includes an increase in the seed biomass (seed weight) and / or an increase in the number of seeds (abundance) and / or in the size of the seeds. seeds and / or an increase in seed volume, each in relation to the corresponding wild-type plants. An increase in the size of the seed and / or in the volume can also influence the composition of the seeds. An increase in the production of the seed could be due to an increase in the number and / or size of the flowers. An increase in production can also increase the harvest index, which is expressed as a ratio of total biomass to the production of harvestable parts, such as seeds. The methods of the present invention are used to increase the seed production of the plant and are therefore particularly favorable to be applied to the crop plants, preferably seed and cereal crops. Therefore, the methods of the present invention are particularly useful for plants such as rapeseed, sunflower, legume (for example soybeans, peas, beans) flax, lupins, cañola and cereals such as rice, corn, wheat , barley, millet, oats and rye. Additionally preferably, the increased biomass comprises increased biomass of plant tissue above the ground level, in the present invention determined as a plant area above the ground level. Additionally or alternatively, the conformity plants. with the invention they have an increased area above the ground level with respect to the corresponding wild-type plants. Additionally preferably, said modified plant architecture comprises increased number of panicles and increased biomass with respect to the corresponding wild-type plants.

The present invention also relates to the use of a seedyl nucleic acid and / or protein in the modification of the growth characteristics of the plant. In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, seedyl nucleic acid and / or seedyl protein can be used in cross programs. In an example of such a cross program, a marker DNA is identified which can be genetically associated to a nucleic acid / seedy gene. This marker DNA can be used in cross programs to select plants that have modified growth characteristics with respect to the corresponding wild-type plants. The methods according to the present invention result in plants having modified growth characteristics, as described above in the present invention. These advantageous characteristics can also be combined with other economically advantageous features, such as additional features for production improvement, tolerance to various stresses, traits that modify various architectural characteristics and / or biochemical and / or physiological characteristics. The present invention will now be described with reference to the following figures of which: Figure 1 is a schematic presentation of the total clone, containing CDS0689 within the AttLI and AttL2 sites for cloning by Gateway® in the base structure of pDONR201 . CDS0689 is the internal code for the coding sequence of Nicotiana tabacum BY2 CDS0689 seedyl. This vector also contains a bacterial cassette of kanamycin resistance and a bacterial origin of replication. Figure 2 is a binary vector map for Oryza sativa expression of the Nicotianatabacum BY2 seedyl gene (CDS0689) under the control of the RP6 rice prolamin promoter (PRO0090). This vector contains a T-DNA derived from the Ti plasmid, limited at the left border (repeated LB, LB Ti C58) and a right border (repeated RB, RB Ti C58)). From the left border to the right border, this T-DNA contains: a cassette selection marker for selection of plants transformed by antibiotics; a marker cassette that can be selected for visual selection of transformed plants; the double cassette terminator PR00090-CDS0689- of zeina and rbcS-deltaGA for the expression of the seedyl gene of Nicotiana tabacum BY2 (CDS0689). This vector also contains an origin of replication from pBR322 for bacterial replication and a selection marker (Spe / SmeR) for bacterial selection with spectinomycin and streptomycin. Figure 3 shows an N-terminal and C-terminal alignment of seedyl amino acids and amino acids deduced from ESTs, all from plants. This alignment was made with the Align X program of the VNTI software package. Reasons 1, 2, 3 and 4 are indicated by a bar.

Figure 4 is the representation of nucleic acid, protein and motif sequences according to the invention.

EXAMPLES The present invention will now be described with reference to the following examples, which are only used by way of illustration. Unless stated otherwise, recombinant DNA techniques are carried out in accordance with standard protocols described in Sambrook (2001) Molecular Cloning: A laboratory manual, 3rd Edition Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, CSH, New York; or in Volumes 1 and 2 of Ausubel et al. (1988), Current Protocols in Molecular Biology, Current Protocols. Standard materials and methods for molecular plant work are described in Plant Molecular Biology Labfase (1993) by R. D. D. Croy, published by BIOS Scientific Publications Ltd (UK) and Blackwell Scientific Publications (UK).

EXAMPLE 1 Cloning of seedyl that encodes the gene A cDNA-AFLP experiment was carried out in a synchronous cell culture of BY2 tuff (Nicotiana tabacum L. cv Bright Bright-2), and the marks of the expressed BY2 sequence were identified that were modulated by cell cycle and were chosen for additional cloning. Subsequently, the expressed sequence tags are used to select a tobacco DNA library and to isolate full-length cDNA of interest, ie the cDNA encoding the seedyl protein of the present invention (CDS0689).

Synchronization of BY2 cells. The suspension of tobacco culture cells BY2 (Nicotiana 0 tabacum L.cv. bright yellow-2) was synchronized by blocking the cells in the early S phase with aphidicolin as follows. The suspension of cultured cells of Nicotiana tabacum L. cv. Bright yellow 2 was maintained as described (Nagata et al. Int. Rev. Cytol. 132, 1-30, 1992). For synchronization, a 7-day-old stationary culture was diluted 10 times 5 in freshly prepared medium supplemented with aphidicolin (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO; 5 mg / 1), a DNA polymerase inhibitor drug. After 24 hours, the cells were released from the blockade by various washes with fresh medium and continued their progression in the cell cycle. 0 RNA extraction and cDNA synthesis. Total RNA was prepared by the use of LiCI precipitation (Sambrook et al, 2001) and poly (A +) RNA was extracted from 500 mg of total RNA using Oligotex columns (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany) in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions. Starting from 1 mg of poly (A +) RNA, the single-stranded cDNA was synthesized by reverse transcription with a biotinylated oligo-dT25 primer (Genset, Paris, France) and Superscript II (Life Technologies, Gaithersburg, MD). The synthesis of the second chain was carried out by chain shifting with Escherichia coli ligase (Life Technologies), and DNA polymerase I (USB, Cleveland, OH) and H-RNAse (USB).

Analysis of cDNA-AFLP. Five hundred ng of double-stranded cDNA were used for AFLP analysis as described (Vos et al., Nucleic Acids Res. 23 (21) 4407-4414, 1995; Bachem et al., Plant J. 9 (5) 745-53. , nineteen ninety six). The restriction enzymes used were BstYI and Msel (Biolabs) and the digestion was carried out in two separate steps. After the first restriction digestion with one of the enzymes, the 3 'terminal fragments were harvested in Dyna globules (Dynal, Oslo, Norway) by means of their biotinylated tail, while the other fragments were removed by washing. After digestion with the second enzyme, the released restriction fragments were collected and used as templates in the subsequent AFLP steps. For the preamplifications, an Msel primer without selective nucleotides was combined with a BstYI primer that contained either a T nucleotide or a C nucleotide as a 3 'nucleotide. PCR conditions are also described (Vos et al., 1995). The obtained amplification mixtures were diluted 600-fold and 5 ml were used for the selective amplifications using a P33-labeled BstYI primer and Amplitaq Gold polymerase (Roche Diagnostics, Brussels, Belgium). The amplification products were separated on 5% polyacrylamide gels using the Sequigel system (Biorad). The dried gels were exposed to Kodak Biomax films as well as registered in a phospholmager (Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, Little Chalfont, UK).

Characterization of AFLP fragments The bands corresponding to the transcripts that are differentially expressed, among which the (partial) transcript corresponding to CDS0689, were isolated from the gel and the eluted DNA was reamplified under the same conditions as for a selective amplification. The sequence information was obtained either by direct sequencing of the reamplified product of the polymerase chain reaction with the BstYI selection primer or after cloning of the fragments in pGEM-T easy (Promega, Madison, Wl) or sequencing of individual clones. The sequences obtained were compared against the nucleotide and protein sequences present in the databases available to the public because the BLAST sequence alignments (Altschul et al., Nucleic Acids Res. 25 (17) 3389-3402, 1997) . When available, the tag sequences were replaced with longer EST sequences or isolated cDNA sequences to increase the likelihood of finding significant homology. The cDNA physical clone corresponding to CDS0689 was subsequently amplified from a commercial tobacco cDNA library as follows.

Cloning of a tobacco seedyl gene CDS0689 (CDS0689) A cDNA library with inserts of average size of 1.400 bp was made with poly (A +) isolated from actively dividing, non-synchronized BY2 tobacco cells. These inserts in the library were cloned into the vector pCMVSPORT6.0, which comprises an attB gateway cassette (Life Technologies). From this library, 46,000 clones were selected, arranged in a 384-well microtiter plate array, and subsequently sampled in duplicate on nylon filters. The clones in the arrays were selected by using clusters of several hundred radioactively labeled tags as probes (among which the BY2 mark corresponds to the sequence CDS0689). The positive clones (among which the clone that reacts with the BY2 mark corresponds to the sequence CDS0689) were isolated, sequenced, and aligned with the tag sequence. Alternatively, when hybridization with the tag could not be performed, the full-length cDNA corresponding to the tag was selected by PCR amplification as follows. Brand-specific primers were designed using the primer3 program (http://www-genome.wi.mit.edu/genome_software/other/prirner3.html) and used in combination with the common vector primer to amplify the partial inserts of the cDNA. Clusters of DNA from 50,000, 100,000, 150,000, and 300,000 cDNA clones were used as templates in the PCR amplifications. The amplification products were isolated from the agarose gels, cloned, sequenced and aligned with the labels. The vector comprising the sequence CDS0689 and which was obtained as described above, was referred to as the entry clone.

EXAMPLE 2 Construction of vector for transformation with cassette PR00090-CDS0689 The clone for input was subsequently used in a Gateway ™ LR reaction with p0830, a target vector used for transformation with Oryza sativa. This vector contains as functional elements within the limits of the T-DNA: a marker of plant selection; a marker that can be selected in plant; and a Gateway cassette that is intended for LR recombination in vivo with the sequence of interest already cloned in the input clone. The rice RP6 prolamin promoter for endosperm specific expression (PRO0090) is located upstream of this Gateway cassette. After the step of recombination by LR, the resulting expression vector was transformed as shown in Figure 2 into Agrobacterium and subsequently into Oryza sativa plants. The transformed rice plants were grown and subsequently examined for various parameters as described in example 3.

EXAMPLE 3 Evaluation of transgenic rice plants transformed with prolamin:: seedv1 (PRO0090-CDS0689) and results Approximately 15 to 20 independent TO rice transformants were generated. The primary transformants were transferred from tissue culture chambers to a greenhouse for growth and harvest of the T1 seed. Four events were retained from which the T1 progeny is segregated 3: 1 for the presence / absence of the transgene. For each of these events, approximately 10 T1 seedlings containing the transgene (hetero- and homo-zygotes), and approximately 10 T1 seedlings lacking the transgene (nulicigotes), were selected by monitoring the expression of the selection marker. Two events were chosen (60 plants per event of which 30 were positive for the transgene and 30 were negative) that have improved agronomic parameters in T1 for re-evaluation in T2. Plants T1 and T2 were transferred to the greenhouse and evaluated for parameters of vegetative growth and seed parameters, as described below.

Statistical analysis: t-test and F-test Two-factor ANOVA (variant analysis) was used as a statistical model for the general evaluation of the phenotypic characteristics of the plant. An F test was carried out on all the parameters measured, for all the plants of all the events transformed with the gene of interest. The F test was carried out to monitor an effect of the gene on all transformation events and to determine the general effect of the gene or the "overall effect of the gene". The significant data, as determined by the value of the F test, indicates an effect of the "gene", which means that the observed phenotype is caused by more than the presence or position of the gene. In the case of the F test, the threshold for importance for a global effect of the gene is established as a 5% probability level.

Measurements of vegetative growth The selected transgenic plants were grown in a greenhouse. Each plant received a unique bar code mark to associate it unambiguously with the phenotypic data of the corresponding plant. The selected transgenic plants were grown in soil in pots of 10 cm in diameter under the following environmental conditions: photoperiod = 11.5 hours, daylight intensity = 30,000 lux or more, temperature during the day = 28 ° C or higher, temperature during the night = 22 ° C, relative humidity = 60-70%. The transgenic plants and the corresponding nullcigotes were grown side by side in random positions. From the sowing stage to the maturity stage, each plant passed several times through a digital image booth and a digital image was taken. At each moment digital images (2048x1536 pixels, 16 million colors) of each plant were taken in at least 6 different angles. The parameters described below were derived automatically from all the digital images of all the plants, using the software for image analysis. (a) plant area above ground level The area above ground level of the plant was determined by the story of the total number of pixels from the plant parts above ground level discriminated against the ground. This value was averaged for photographs taken at the same time from different angles and converted to a physical surface value expressed in square mm by calibration. The experiments show that the plant area above ground level measured in this way correlates with the biomass of the plant parts above the soil level mentioned above. b) Number of primary panicles The highest panicles and all the panicles that overlap with the highest panicles when they were vertically aligned were counted manually, and were considered as primary panicles.

Measurement of parameters related to the seed The mature primary panicles of plants T1 and T2 were harvested, grouped, marked with a bar code and then dried for three days in the oven at 37 ° C. Then the panicles were shelled and all the seeds were collected and counted. The filled pods are separated from the empty ones using an air current device. The empty pods were discarded and the remaining fraction counted again. The filled pods were weighed on an analytical balance. This procedure resulted in the establishment of parameters related to the seed described below. (c) number of seeds in the pod The number of seeds in the pod was determined by counting the full pods that remained after the separation step. (d) total seed production per plant Total seed production was measured by the weight of all full pods harvested from one plant. The results show the% difference between positive plants and corresponding (negative) nulicigote plants of a transgenic line. The values given in tables 1 to 4 represent the average of two lines T1 and the same two lines T2.

TABLE 1 Summary of the phenotypic data of seedyl transgenic plants T1 and T2 for the area above ground level TABLE 2 Summary of the phenotypic data of transgenic seedyl plants T1 and T2 for the number of primary panicles TABLE 3 Summary of the phenotypic data of transgenic plants seedyl T1 and T2 for the number of seeds in the pod TABLE 4 Summary of phenotypic data of transgenic seedyl T1 plants and T2 for the total weight of the seed per plant

Claims (25)

NOVELTY OF THE INVENTION CLAIMS

1. - A method for modifying the growth characteristics of a plant with respect to the corresponding wild type plants, which comprises modifying the expression in a plant of a seedyl nucleic acid and / or modifying the level and / or activity in a plant of a seedyl protein.

2. The method according to claim 1, further characterized in that said modified expression and / or activity and / or level can be affected by the introduction of a genetic modification at the locus of a seedyl gene.

3. The method according to claim 2, further characterized in that said genetic modification is carried out by any one or more of: activation of T-DNA, performing tilling, site-directed mutagenesis, homologous recombination or by introduction and expression in a plant of a nucleic acid / seedyl gene or a portion thereof, or sequences capable of hybridizing with the nucleic acid / seedy gene, said nucleic acid encoding a seedyl protein or a homologue, derivative or active fragment thereof.

4. The method according to claim 2 or 3, further characterized in that said nucleic acid / seedy gene or portion thereof, or sequence capable of hybridizing with said nucleic acid / seedyl gene, is overexpressed in a plant .

5. The method according to any of claims 1 to 4, further characterized in that said seedyl nucleic acid is of plant origin, preferably from a dicotyledonous plant, preferably additionally from the family Solanaceae, more preferably from Nicotiana.

6. The method according to any of claims 1 to 5, further characterized in that said seedyl nucleic acid is operatively associated with a preferred promoter of the seed.

7. The method according to claim 6, further characterized in that said preferred promoter of the seed is a prolamin promoter.

8. The method according to any of claims 1 to 7, further characterized in that said modified growth characteristic is selected from any one or more of: increased production, increased biomass and modified plant architecture, each with respect to the corresponding wild-type plants.

9. The method according to claim 8, further characterized in that said increased production is increased production of seed.

10. - The method according to claim 8, further characterized in that said modified architecture comprises increased biomass and increased number of panicles.

11. A plant or plant cell obtained by a method according to any of claims 1 to 10.

12. A genetic construct comprising: (i) A seedyl nucleic acid encoding a seedyl protein; (I) one or more control sequences capable of regulating the expression of the nucleic acid of (i); and optionally (iii) a sequence for terminating transcription.

13. The construction according to claim 12, further characterized in that said control sequence is a promoter, preferably a preferred promoter of the seed.

14. A plant or plant cell transformed with a construction according to claim 12 or 13.

15. A method for the production of a transgenic plant that has modified growth characteristics, said method comprises: (i) the introduction within of a plant or plant part of a seedyl nucleic acid encoding a seedyl protein; (ii) cultivate the plant cell under conditions that promote the regeneration and growth of the mature plant.

16. A transgenic plant or plant cell that has modified growth characteristics with respect to the wild type plants or corresponding plant cells, said modified growth characteristics result from a seedyl nucleic acid introduced into said plant or plant cell.

17. The transgenic plant or plant cell according to any of claims 11, 14 or 16, further characterized in that said plant is a monocotyledonous plant such as a sugar cane, or wherein the plant is a harvest plant such as soy bean, sunflower, cañola, alfalfa, rapeseed, cotton, tomato, potato or tobacco, or where the plant is a cereal, such as rice, corn, wheat, barley, millet, rye, sorghum or oats.

18. The parts that can be harvested from a plant according to any of claims 11, 14, 16 and 17, further characterized in that said harvestable parts are preferably seeds.

19. The use of a nucleic acid isolated from seedyl and / or a seedyl protein to modify the growth characteristics of a plant, said growth characteristics being selected from any of one or more of increased production, increased biomass and architecture modified vegetable. 20.- The use of a nucleic acid isolated from seedyl and / or a seedyl protein in vegetable cross. 21. An isolated seedyl protein, comprising in the following order from the N-terminal to the C-terminal: (i) a motif having at least 80% sequence identity with respect to the sequence presented by SEQ ID NO 15; and (ii) a motif having at least 80% sequence identity with respect to the sequence presented by SEQ ID NO 16; and (iii) a motif having at least 80% sequence identity with respect to the sequence presented by SEQ ID NO 17 and said motif is a coiled spiral motif; and (iv) a motif having at least 80% sequence identity with respect to the sequence presented by SEQ ID NO 18, with the proviso that the seedyl protein is not the Arabidopsis protein as deposited in Genbank under the number of access NCBI AL161572 (SEQ ID N0 12). 22. The isolated seedyl protein according to claim 21, further characterized in that the motif in accordance with SEQ ID NO: 15 is as represented by: (P / X) X ((V / L / H) (Q / H) (V / I) W (N / X) NA (A / P) (F / C) D, wherein X can be any amino acid, and wherein (P / X) preferably is P or is A or T or Q or another amino acid (V / L / H) is preferably V or L or H (Q / H) is any Q or H (V / I) is any V or is T or S or another amino acid (A / P) preferably is A or is P (F / C) preferably is F or is O 23. The isolated seedyl protein according to claim 21, further characterized in that the motif in accordance with SEQ ID NO 17 is as represented by: ( IA // A) (D / E) XE (l / M) XX (l / V) (E / Q) XE (l / X) XRL (S / X) (S / X) (R / K) LXXLR (L? / T / l) X (K / Q), where X can be any amino acid, and where: (I / V / A) preferably is I or V or is A, (D / E) is any D or E, (l / M) preferably is I or is M, (l / V) preferably is I or is V, (E / Q) preferably is E or is Q, (l / X) preferably is I or is M or is V or any other amino acid, (S / X) preferably S or is T or any other amino acid, (S / X) preferably is S or is T or L or A, (R / K) preferably is R or is K, (L / V / T / l) preferably is L or T or V or I, (K / Q) preferably is K or Q and said motif is a coiled spiral motif. 24. The isolated seedyl protein according to claim 21, further characterized in that said reason in accordance with SEQ ID NO 18 is as represented by: LP (R / K) I (R / X) (T / I) ( M / X) (P / R) XX (D / X) (E / G) (S / T) (P / L) RDSG (C / X) (A / X) KR (V / X) (A / I) (D / E) (L / R) (V / X) (G / A) K, where X can be any amino acid, and where (R / K) is any R or K, (R / X) ) preferably is R or is S or K, (T / l) preferably is T or I, (M / X) preferably is M or L or A or V, (P / R) is any P or R, (D / X) preferably is D or is G or T or N, (E / G) preferably is E or is G, (S / T) preferably is S or is T, (P / L) preferably is P or is L, ( C / X) preferably is C or is P or A, (A / X) preferably is A or is V or I, (A / 1) preferably is A or is I, (D / E) is any D or E, (L / R) preferably is L or is R, (V / X) preferably is V or is Q or N or I, (G / A) preferably is G or is A. 25.- A nucleic acid / seedyl gene isolated selected from: (i) a nucleic acid represent by any of SEQ ID NO: 1, 5 or 7 or the complement of any of the aforementioned; (I) a nucleic acid encoding an amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 2, 4, 6, 8 or 10; (iii) a nucleic acid encoding a homologue, derivative or active fragment of (i) or (ii) mentioned above; (iv) a nucleic acid capable of hybridizing with a nucleic acid of (i), (i) or (iii) above; (v) a nucleic acid which is degenerate as a result of the genetic code for any of the aforementioned nucleic acids of (i) to (iv); (vi) a nucleic acid which is an allelic variant of any of the nucleic acids of (i) to (v) mentioned above; (vii) a nucleic acid which is an alternative processing variant of any of the nucleic acids of (i) to (vi); (viii) a nucleic acid encoding a protein which has in order of preference increase at least 21%, 22%, 23%, 24%, 25%, 26%, 27%, 28%, 29%, 30% , 31%, 32%, 33%, 34%, 35%, 36%, 37%, 38%, 39%, 40%, 41%, 42%, 43%, 44%, 45%, 46%, 47%, 48%, 49%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98% or 99% sequence identity with respect to any one or more from the sequences defined in (i) to (vii) above; (ix) a portion of a nucleic acid according to any of (i) to (viii) above; wherein the above-mentioned nucleic acids of (i) to (ix) encode a seedyl protein, and with the proviso that the isolated nucleic acid is not a rice cDNA as deposited under accession number Genbank AK063941 (SEQ ID NO. 3), a Medicago BAC clone deposited as AC144618, AC139356, AC144482 or AC135566, the Arabidopsis cDNA deposited under AL61572 (SEQ ID NO 11) or the EST of Zea mays deposited under AY108162 (SEQ ID NO 9).