YIELD ENHANCEMENT IN PLANTS BY MODULATION OF A MAIZE WSPL1 PROTEIN

摘要

Compositions and methods for modulating plant development and for increasing yield in a plant are provided. The compositions include a ZmWSPL sequence. Compositions of the invention comprise amino acid sequences and nucleotide sequences as well as variants and fragments thereof. Nucleotide sequences encoding the ZmWSPL protein are provided in DNA constructs for expression in a plant of interest are provided for modulating the level of a ZmWSPL sequence in a plant or a plant part are provided. The methods comprise introducing into a plant or plant part a heterologous polynucleotide comprising a ZmWSPL sequence of the invention. The level of the ZmWSPL polypeptide can be increased or decreased. Such method can be used to increase the yield in plants; in one embodiment, the method is used to increase grain yield in cereals.