Michelle Yvette Hunt

US Patent:

59860820, Nov 16, 1999

Filed:

Dec 12, 1997

Appl. No.:

8/989478

Inventors:

Scott Joseph Uknes - Apex NC
Michelle Denise Hunt - Chapel Hill NC
John Andrew Ryals - Cary NC

Assignee:

Novartis AG - Basel

International Classification:

C12N 504
C12N 1529
A01H 400
A01H 500

US Classification:

536 236

Abstract:

The NIM1 gene product is a structural homologue of the mammalian signal transduction factor I. kappa. B subclass. alpha. The present invention exploits this discovery to provide altered forms of NIM1 that act as dominant-negative regulators of the systemic acquired resistance (SAR) signal transduction pathway. These altered forms of NIM1 confer the opposite phenotype as the nim1 mutant in plants transformed with the altered forms of NIM1; i. e. , the transgenic plants exhibit constitutive SAR gene expression and a constitutive immunity (CIM) phenotype. The present invention further concerns DNA molecules encoding altered forms of the NIM1 gene, expression vectors containing such DNA molecules, and plants and plant cells transformed therewith. The invention also concerns methods of activating SAR in plants and conferring to plants a CIM phenotype and broad spectrum disease resistance by transforming the plants with DNA molecules encoding altered forms of the NIM1 gene product.