Abstract: The present invention concerns a method of protecting plants from pathogen attack through synergistic disease resistance attained by applying a conventional microbicide to immunomodulated plants. Immunomodulated plants are those in which SAR is activated and are therefore referred to as "SAR-on" plants. Immunomodulated plants may be provided in at least three different ways: by applying to plants a chemical inducer of SAR such as BTH, INA, or SA; through a selective breeding program based on constitutive expression of SAR genes and/or a disease-resistant phenotype; or by transforming plants with one or more SAR genes such as a functional form of the NIM1 gene. By concurrently applying a microbicide to an immunomodulated plant, disease resistance is unexpectedly synergistically enhanced; i.e., the level of disease resistance is greater than the expected additive levels of disease resistance.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to 5' regulatory regions of an Arabidopsis oleosin gene. The 5' regulatory regions, when operably linked to either the coding sequence of a heterologous gene or a sequence complementary to a native plant gene, direct expression of the coding sequence or complementary sequence in a plant seed. The regulatory regions are useful in expression cassettes and expression vectors for the transformation of plants. Also provided are methods of modulating the levels of a heterologous gene such as a fatty acid synthesis or lipid metabolism gene by transforming a plant with the subject expression cassettes and expression vectors.

Abstract: Provided are trnasgenic plants comprising cells transformed or transfected with a recombinant DNA construct containing a coding sequence which encodes phytochrome A, which when expressed, causes the stimulation of phytochrome A and confers upon said plant the ability to undergo proximity-conctitional dwarfing Also provided are a recombinant DNA construct containing a coding sequence encoding phytochrome A, which when expressed, is effective in conferring the trait of proximity-conditional dwarfing on plants comprising cells transformed ar tansfected with this construct, a method for conferring proximity-conditional dwarfing upon plants, transgenic plants produced by this method, and seeds obtained by growing such plants.

Abstract: Methods for the transformation of etioplasts and of chloroplasts are disclosed. One method comprises incubating isolated etioplasts with a chelating agent to bind metal ions on which chloroplast nucleases are dependent and incubating the resultant nuclease-inactivated etioplasts with foreign DNA. By an alternative method of transforming chloroplasts, foreign DNA comprising expression cassettes are coated on metal particles and inserted by high-velocity impact into plant cells. For transformation into a plant chloroplast, DNA molecules containing an expression cassette includes a DNA fragment containing appropriate control sequences. The expression cassette may also be flanked by chloroplast DNA which facilitates stable integration of the gene(s) of interest into the recipient chloroplast genome. It is desirable to include within the expression cassette a selectable marker gene that encodes a selectable phenotype which allows for the identification of the cells expressing the introduced gene.

Abstract: Disarmed A. tumefaciencs strain KYRT1, derived from a highly tumorigenic strain identified as A. tumefaciens strain Chry5. Disarming is accomplished by inactivation of plasmid pTiChry5 T-DNA sequences by, for example, deletion of sequences comprising the T-DNA right border. Methods of making transgenic plants using the novel A. tumefaciens strains are also provided.

Abstract: Expansins are proteins that induce extension in isolated plant cell walls in vitro and have been proposed to disrupt non-covalent interactions between hemicellulose and cellulose microfibrils. Because the plant primary cell wall acts as a constraint to cell enlargement, this process may be integral to plant cell expansion and studies of expansins have focused on their role in growth. We have discovered an expansin (Ex1) from tomato, melon and strawberry that is highly abundant and specifically expressed in ripening fruit, a developmental period when growth has ceased but when selective disassembly of cell wall components is pronounced. Also disclosed are expression vectors containing the Ex1 coding sequence, expression vectors containing an Ex1 sequence in the antisense orientation, Ex1 proteins, and transgenic plants which express both sense and antisense exogenous Ex1.