USOO8633353B2 (12) United States Patent (10) Patent No.: US 8,633,353 B2 Ratcliffe et al. (45) Date of Patent: Jan. 21, 2014 (54) PLANTS WITH IMPROVED WATER DEFICIT PCT/US2004/037584, filed on Nov. 12, 2004, which is AND COLD TOLERANCE a continuation-in-part of application No. 10/714,887, application No. 1 1/981,813, which is a (75) Inventors: Oliver . Ratcliffe, Oakland, CA (US); continuation-in-part of application No. Jacqueline Heard, Webster Groves, MO PCT/US2006/034615, filed on Aug. 31, 2006, and a (US); Rodrick W. Kumimoto, Norman, continuation-in-part of application No. 1 1/705,903, OK (US); Peter P. Repetti, Emeryville, filed on Feb. 12, 2007, now Pat. No. 7,868,229, which CA (US); T. Lynne Reuber, San Mateo, is a continuation-in-part of application No. CA (US); Robert Creelman, Castro PCT/US2006/034615 Valley, CA (US); Frederick D. Hempel, Sunol, CA (US); Neal L. Gutterson, (60) Provisional application No. 60/961,403, filed on Jul. Oakland, CA (US); Roger Canales, 20, 2007, provisional application No. 60/713,952, Bernburg (DE) filed on Aug. 31, 2005. (73) Assignee: Mendel Biotechnology, Inc., Hayward, (51) Int. Cl. CA (US) AOIH I/O (2006.01) c - r - (52) U.S. Cl. (*) Notice: patentSubject is to extended any disclaimer, or adjusted the term under of this 35 USPC ............ 800/278; 800/287: 800/289: 800/290 U.S.C. 154(b) by 753 days. (58) Field of Classification Search None (21) Appl. No.: 11/981,813 See application file for complete search history. (22) Filed: Oct. 30, 2007 (56) References Cited (65) Prior Publication Data U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS US 2008/O163397 A1 Jul. 3, 2008 6,121,513 A 9/2000 Zhang et al. 6,235,975 B1 5, 2001 Harada et al. Related U.S. ApplicationO O Data 6,476,2126,320,102 B1 11/20021 1/2001 HaradaLalgudi etet al. al. (60) Continuation-in-part of application No. 10/675,852, g: R 3: Sinces al. - I - aala Ca. continuation-in-partfiled on Sep. 30, 2003,of application now abandoned, No. 1 1/479,226, and a 6,664,446 B2 12/2003 Heard et al. filed on Jun. 30, 2006, now Pat. No. 7,858,848, and a (Continued) continuation-in-part of application No. 1 1/725,235, filed on Mar. 16, 2007, now Pat. No. 7,601,893, and a FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS continuation-in-part of application No. 1 1/728,567, AR PO70 102784 1, 2008 filed on Mar. 26, 2007, now Pat. No. 7,635,800, and a CA 2302828 10, 2000 continuation-in-part of application No. 1 1/069.255, (Continued) filed on Feb. 28, 2005, now Pat. No. 8,558,059, and a continuation-in-part of application No. 10/374,780, OTHER PUBLICATIONS filed on Feb. 25, 2003, now Pat. No. 7,511,190, and a continuation-in-part of application No. 10/546,266, Bowie et al, Science 247: 1306-1310, 1990.* filed as application No. PCT/US2004/005654 on Feb. 25, 2004, now Pat. No. 7,659,446, which is a (Continued) continuation-in-part of application No. 10/374,780, and a continuation-in-part of application No. Primary Examiner — Stuart F Baum 10/675,852, application No. 1 1/981,813, which is a (74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm — Jeffrey M. Libby: Yifan continuation-in-part of application No. 10/412,699, Mao filed on Apr. 10, 2003, now Pat. No. 7,345,217, which is a continuation-in-part of application No. (57) ABSTRACT 10/374,780, application No. 1 1/981,813, which is a The present invention provides nucleic acid constructs, continuation-in-part of application No. 1 1/642,814, including plasmids, expression vectors or expression cas filed on Dec. 20, 2006, now Pat. No. 7,825,296, which settes comprising polynucleotides encoding CCAAT-binding is a division of application No. 10/666,642, filed on transcription factor polypeptides that have the ability to Sep. 18, 2003, now Pat. No. 7,196,245, application No. increase a plants tolerance to abiotic stress. Polynucleotides 11/981,813, which is a continuation-in-part of encoding functional CCAAT-binding transcription factors application No. 10/714,887, filed on Nov. 13, 2003, were incorporated into expression vectors, introduced into now abandoned, which is a continuation-in-part of plants, and ectopically expressed. The encoded polypeptides application No. 10/666,642, application No. of the invention significantly increased the cold and water 11/981,813, which is a continuation-in-part of deficit tolerance of the transgenic plants, as compared to application No. 11/435,388, filed on May 15, 2006, tolerance to these stresses of control plants. now Pat. No. 7,663,025, which is a continuation-in-part of application No. 22 Claims, 5 Drawing Sheets US 8,633,353 B2 Page 2 (56) References Cited 2009,0183270 A1 7/2009 Adams 2009,0192305 A1 7/2009 Riechmann et al. U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS 2009/0205063 A1 8/2009 Zhang et al. 2009,0265807 A1 10, 2009 Kumimoto et al. 2009,0265813 A1 10, 2009 Gutterson et al. 8%. R 58. A.C.E.tal. 2009/02769 12 Al 11/2009 Sherman et al. 6.77 O34 B2 4/2004 Jiang et al. 2010, 0071086 A1 3/2010 Repetti et al. 6,781.035 B1 8/2004 Harada et al. 2010, 0083395 A1 4/2010 Reuber et al. 6.825,397 B1 11/2004 Lowe et al. 2010, 00834O2 A1 4, 2010 Heard et al. 6.835 540 B2 12/2004 Broun et all 2010/01O7279 A1 4/2010 Ratcliffe et al. 6,946,586 B1 9, 2005 Fromm et al. 2010, 0162427 A1 6/2010 Riechmann et al. 7,109,393 B2 9, 2006 Gutterson et al. 2010/01751.45 A1 7/2010 Heard et al. 735 616 B2 11/2006 Heard et al. 2010, 0186105 A1 7/2010 Creelman et al. 79320 B2 3/2007 Reuber et al. 2010, 0186106 A1 7/2010 Creelman et al. 796.345 B2 3, 2007 Jiang et al. 2010, 0192249 A1 7/2010 Creelman et al. 7233,904 B2 5, 2007 Heard et al. 2010/0223689 A1 9/2010 Creelman et al. 7238.860 B2 7/2007 Ratcliffe et al. 2010/0281565 A1 1 1/2010 Engler et al. 7,345,217 B2 3/2008 Zhang et al. 7,511, 190 B2 3/2009 Sherman et al. FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS 7,598.429 B2 10/2009 Heard et al. 7,601,893 B2 10/2009 Reuber et al. CL 185107 2, 2008 7,635,800 B2 12/2009 Ratcliffe et al. DE 19503359 2, 1996 7,659,446 B2 2/2010 Sherman et al. EP 1033 405 9, 2000 7,663,025 B2 2/2010 Heard et al. EP 123O345 8, 2002 7,692,067 B2 4/2010 Creelman et al. EP 1 42O 630 2, 2003 2001/0051335 Al 12/2001 Lalgudi et al. EP 1420630 2, 2003 2002fOO23281 A1 2/2002 Gorlach et al. EP 1454993 9, 2004 2002fOO40489 A1 4/2002 Gorlach et al. EP 16O1758 9, 2004 2003/0041356 A1 2/2003 Reuber et al. EP O8O3572 10/2007 2003, OO61637 A1 3/2003 Jiang et al. GB 2244272 11, 1991 2003/0093837 A1 5, 2003 Keddie GB 2392444 3, 2004 2003/0101481 A1 5/2003 Zhang et al. WO WO 98.37184 8, 1998 2003/O121070 A1 6, 2003 Adam et al. WO WO 98/37755 9, 1998 2003/O126638 A1 7/2003 Allen et al. WO WO 98.58069 12/1998 2003. O131386 A1 7/2003 Samaha et al. WO WO99,53016 A2 10, 1999 2003. O188330 A1 10, 2003 Heard WO WO99,67405 12/1999 2004.0009.476 A9 1/2004 Harper et al. WO WOOOf 28058 5, 2000 2004, OO16022 A1 1/2004 Lowe et al. WO WOOO, 53724 A2 9, 2000 2004/OO 19927 A1 1/2004 Sherman et al. WO WOO1/36598 A1 5, 2001 2004/0031072 A1 2, 2004 La Rosa et al. WO WOO1/45493 A2 6, 2001 2004.0034.888 A1 2/2004 Liu et al. WO WOO1,64022 9, 2001 2004/0098764 A1 5, 2004 Heard et al. WO WOO1,773.11 10, 2001 2004/O123338 A1 6, 2004 Fincher et al. WO WOO2,06499 1, 2002 2004/O123339 A1 6/2004 Conner et al. WO WO O2, 16655 2, 2002 2004/O123343 A1 6/2004 La Rosa et al. WO WO O2/46442 6, 2002 2004/O128712 A1 7/2004 Jiang et al. WO WO O2/O57439 A2 T 2002 2004/0172684 A1 9, 2004 Kovalic et al. WO WO O2/O79245 A2 10, 2002 2004/O181830 A1 9, 2004 Kovalic et al. WO WOO3,OOO898 1, 2003 2004/0214272 A1 10, 2004 La Rosa et al. WO WOO3,OO1902 1, 2003 2004/0216190 A1 10, 2004 Kovalic et al. WO WOO3,OO2751 1, 2003 2004/0229367 A1 11/2004 Berka et al. WO WOO3,OO8540 1, 2003 2004/0259145 A1 12, 2004 Wood et al. WO WOO3,O14327 A2 2, 2003 2005/0022266 A1 1/2005 Wu WO WOO3/020936 3, 2003 2005, OO86718 A1 4/2005 Heard et al. WO WOO3,083.042 10, 2003 2005/OO97638 A1 5/2005 Jiang et al. WO WO 2004/OO982O 1, 2004 2005/O155117 A1 7/2005 Century et al. WO WO 2004/031349 A2 4/2004 2005/0172364 A1 8, 2005 Heard et al. WO WO 2004/076638 A2 9, 2004 2006, OOO8874 A1 1/2006 Creelman et al. WO WO 2004/079006 9, 2004 2006, OO15972 A1 1/2006 Heard et al.