NOVEL USE OF A DENSE AND ERECT PANICLE 1 GENE IN IMPROVING NITROGEN UTILIZATION EFFICIENCY

摘要

The present invention provides methods of increasing nitrogen utilization efficiency (NUE) in a transgenic plant comprising the introduction of a nucleic acid encoding a dep1 polypeptide into a plant to produce a transgenic plant that expresses the nucleic acid to produce the dep1 polypeptide, thereby resulting in an increased NUE as compared with a control plant. Also provided are methods of increasing NUE in a plant comprising reducing the amount and/or activity of a DEP1 polypeptide.