Abstract: Disclosed herein are transgenic plants and plant cells having increased photosynthetic rate, increased biomass production, and/or improved cold tolerance compared to control plants (such as non-transgenic plants of the same species as the transgenic plants). In some examples, the transgenic plants/plant cells contain a plant transformation vector including a nucleic acid encoding a pyruvate orthophosphate dikinase (PPDK) polypeptide. Also disclosed herein are methods for making the transgenic plants, for instance by introducing into progenitor cells of the plant a plant transformation vector including a nucleic acid that encodes a PPDK polypeptide, and growing the transformed progenitor cells to produce a transgenic plant, in which the PPDK nucleic acid is expressed. Further disclosed herein are PPDK-encoding nucleic acids, PPDK polypeptides, and plant transformation vectors of use in producing the transgenic plants or plant cells.

Abstract: The present invention provides a hybrid-type histidine kinase gene isolated from indica rice IR64, and being capable of osmosensing and inducible by multiple stresses, and hence, being capable of improving the multiple stress tolerance of the crop plants even in subsequent generations so as to make the plants capable of coping-up with the more than one environmental abiotic stress conditions, and therefore, increasing the economic value of the crop plants while maintaining the yield thereof. The present invention also provides a method of isolation of hybrid-type histidine kinase gene from indica rice IR64, and its functional characteristics and its sequence listing and cloning, at least, with yeast expression vector and the plant expression vector, and clones produced thereby, and method of improving multiple stress tolerance of crop plant and crop plants having improved multiple stress tolerance.