US 12,006,506 B2
Methods and compositions for obtaining useful plant traits
Sally Mackenzie, Lincoln, NE (US); Michael Fromm, Lincoln, NE (US); Kamaldeep Virdi, Lincoln, NE (US); and Yashitola Wamboldt, Lincoln, NE (US)
Assigned to NUtech Ventures, Lincoln, NE (US)
Filed by NUtech Ventures, Lincoln, NE (US)
Filed on Aug. 10, 2020, as Appl. No. 16/989,422.
Application 16/989,422 is a continuation of application No. 14/495,498, filed on Sep. 24, 2014, granted, now 10,767,188.
Claims priority of provisional application 61/882,140, filed on Sep. 25, 2013.
Prior Publication US 2021/0017534 A1, Jan. 21, 2021
Int. Cl. C12N 15/82 (2006.01)
CPC C12N 15/8273 (2013.01) [C12N 15/8218 (2013.01); C12N 15/8261 (2013.01); C12N 15/8269 (2013.01); C12N 15/827 (2013.01); C12N 15/8271 (2013.01)] 9 Claims
 
1. A grafted plant comprising a scion to which a rootstock has been grafted, wherein:
(i) the rootstock is from a wild-type plant;
(ii) MSH1 gene expression is suppressed in the scion;
(iii) the scion confers an improvement in yield or growth rate in progeny obtained from the rootstock portion of the grafted plant, in comparison to a control plant, wherein the control plant comprises either:
(a) a progeny of a rootstock portion of a grafted plant wherein the rootstock is grafted to a scion that had not been subjected to suppression of MSH1 gene expression;
(b) a whole plant that lacks any root graft and that had not been subjected to suppression of MSH1 gene expression;
(c) a wild-type plant or
(d) a progeny of a plant that is isogenic to the plant source of the rootstock of the grafted plant; and,
(iv) the MSH1 gene expression is suppressed in the scion by a mutation in an endogenous MSH1 gene of the scion or by a small inhibitory RNA (siRNA), a microRNA (miRNA), a co-suppressing sense RNA, and/or an anti-sense RNA having complementarity to the endogenous MSH1 gene promoter, 5′ or 3′ untranslated region, intron, coding region, and/or any combination thereof.