Plants and seeds of corn variety I286346 Number:7,521,612 from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) owispatent According to the invention, there is provided seed and plants of the corn variety designated I286346. The invention thus relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of the variety I286346, and to methods for producing a corn plant produced by crossing a corn plant of variety I286346 with itself or with another corn plant, such as a plant of another variety. The invention further relates to corn seeds and plants produced by crossing plants of variety I286346 with plants of another variety, such as another inbred line. The invention further relates to the inbred and hybrid genetic complements of plants of variety I286346.<H I286346, variety, Plants, and, seed, 7521612.html, Patent, pto, 7521612

Title: Plants and seeds of corn variety I286346

Abstract: According to the invention, there is provided seed and plants of the corn variety designated I286346. The invention thus relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of the variety I286346, and to methods for producing a corn plant produced by crossing a corn plant of variety I286346 with itself or with another corn plant, such as a plant of another variety. The invention further relates to corn seeds and plants produced by crossing plants of variety I286346 with plants of another variety, such as another inbred line. The invention further relates to the inbred and hybrid genetic complements of plants of variety I286346.

Patent Number: 7,521,612 Issued on 04/21/2009 to Carlson

Inventors: Carlson; Thomas B. (Ankeny, IA)
Assignee: Monsanto Technology LLC (St. Louis, MO)

Appl. No.: 11/733,433

Filed: April 10, 2007

Related U.S. Patent Documents


Application Number	Filing Date	Patent Number	Issue Date
60745152	Apr., 2006

Current U.S. Class: 800/320.1 ; 435/412; 435/418; 435/424; 435/468; 530/370; 536/23.1; 800/260; 800/278; 800/303

Current International Class: A01H 1/00 (20060101); C07K 14/415 (20060101); C12N 5/14 (20060101)

Field of Search: 435/468,412,418,424 530/370 536/23.1 800/320.1,260,278,303

References Cited [Referenced By]

U.S. Patent Documents


4517763	May 1985	Beversdorf et al.
4658084	April 1987	Beversdorf et al.
4658085	April 1987	Beversdorf et al.
4677246	June 1987	Armond et al.
4731499	March 1988	Puskaric et al.
5276263	January 1994	Foley
5523520	June 1996	Hunsperger et al.
5773683	June 1998	Foley
6433261	August 2002	Hotchkiss
7227061	June 2007	Page
7381874	June 2008	Carlson

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Fehr (ed.), Principles of Cultivar Development, vol. 1: Theory and Technique, pp. 360-376, 1987. cited by other .
Hallauer et al., "Corn Breeding," Corn and Corn Improvement, eds., Sprague et al., Madison, Wisconsin, Ch. 8, pp. 463-564, 1988. cited by other .
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Meghji et al., "Inbreeding depression, inbred and hybrid grain yields, and other traits of maize genotypes representing three eras," Crop Science, 24:545-549, 1984. cited by other .
Poehlman & Sleper (eds), Breeding Field Crops, 4th Ed., pp. 172-175, 1995. cited by other .
Poehlman, Breeding Field Crops, 3rd ed., AVI Publishing Company, Westport, Connecticut, pp. 469-481, 1987. cited by other .
Rieger et al., Glossary of Genetics and Cytogenetics, Classical and Molecular, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, p. 116, 1976. cited by other .
Sprague & Eberhart, "Corn Breeding," Corn and Corn Improvements, ed. G.F. Sprague, No. 18 in Agronomy Series, American Society of Agronomy, Inc., Madison, Wisconsin, pp. 305-323, 1977. cited by other .
Troyer, "A retrospective view of corn genetic resources," Journal of Heredity, 81:17-24, 1990. cited by other .
Wych, "Production of hybrid seed corn," Corn and Corn Improvement, eds., Sprague et al, editors, Madison, Wisconsin, Ch. 9, pp. 565-607, 1988. cited by other.

Primary Examiner: Bui; Phuong T
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP

Parent Case Text

This application claims the priority of U.S. Provisional Appl. Ser. No. 60/745,152, filed Apr. 19, 2006, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A seed of corn variety I286346, wherein a sample of seed of corn variety I286346 has been deposited under ATCC Accession No. PTA-9741.

2. A plant of corn variety I286346, wherein a sample of seed of corn variety I286346 has been deposited under ATCC Accession No. PTA-9741.

3. A plant part of the plant of claim 2.

4. The plant part of claim 3, further defined as pollen, an ovule or a cell.

5. A tissue culture of regenerable cells of the plant of claim 2.

6. The tissue culture of claim 5, wherein the regenerable cells are from embryos, meristematic cells, pollen, leaves, roots, root tips, anther, pistil, flower, seed, boll or stem.

7. A corn plant regenerated from the tissue culture of claim 5, wherein the regenerated corn plant expresses all of the physiological and morphological characteristics of the corn variety I286346, wherein a sample of seed of corn variety I286346 has been deposited under ATCC Accession No. PTA-9741.

8. A method of producing corn seed, comprising crossing the plant of claim 2 with itself or a second corn plant.

9. An F.sup.1 hybrid seed produced by crossing the plant of claim 2 with a second, distinct corn plant.

10. A method of producing a plant of corn variety I286346 comprising an added desired trait, the method comprising introducing a transgene conferring the desired trait into a plant of corn variety I286346, wherein a sample of seed of corn variety I286346 has been deposited under ATCC Accession No. PTA-9741.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the desired trait is selected from the group consisting of male sterility, herbicide tolerance, insect or pest resistance, disease resistance, modified fatty acid metabolism, and modified carbohydrate metabolism.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the desired trait is herbicide tolerance and the tolerance is conferred to an herbicide selected from the group consisting of glyphosate, sulfonylurea, imidazalinone, dicamba, glufosinate, phenoxy proprionic acid, cycloshexone, triazine, benzonitrile and broxynil.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the desired trait is insect resistance and the transgene encodes a Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) endotoxin.

14. A plant produced by the method of claim 10, wherein the plant comprises the desired trait and otherwise comprises all of the physiological and morphological characteristics of corn variety I286346 when grown in the same environmental conditions, wherein a sample of seed of corn variety I286346 has been deposited under ATCC Accession No. PTA-9741.

15. A method of introducing a single locus conversion into corn variety I286346 comprising: (a) crossing a first plant of variety I286346 with a second plant comprising a desired single locus to produce F1 progeny plants, wherein a sample of seed of corn variety I286346 has been deposited under ATCC Accession No. PTA-9741; (b) selecting F1 progeny plants that have the single locus to produce selected F1 progeny plants; (c) crossing the selected progeny plants with at least a first plant of variety I932310 to produce backcross progeny plants; (d) selecting backcross progeny plants that have the single locus and physiological and morphological characteristics of corn variety I286346 to produce selected backcross progeny plants; and (e) reprating steps (c) and (d) three or more times in succession to produce selected fourth or higher backcross progeny plants that comprise the single locus and otherwise comprise all of the physiological and morphological characteristics of corn variety I286346 when grown in the same environmental conditions.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the single locus confers a trait selected from the group consisting of male sterility; herbicide tolerance; insect or pest resistance; disease resistance; modified fatty acid metabolism; and modified carbohydrate metabolism.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the trait is tolerance to an herbicide selected from the group consisting of glyphosate, sulfonylurea, imidazalinone, dicamba, glufosinate, phenoxy proprionic acid, cycloshexone, triazine, benzonitrile and broxynil.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the trait is insect resistance and the insect resistance is conferred by a transgene encoding a Bacillus thuringiensis endotoxin.

19. A plant of corn variety I286346 comprising a single locus conversion, wherein the single locus was introduced into corn variety I286346 by backcrossing, and wherein a sample of seed of corn variety I286346 has been deposited under ATCC Accession No. PTA-9741.

20. A method of producing an inbred corn plant derived from the corn variety I286346, the method comprising the steps of: (a) preparing a progeny plant derived from corn variety I286346 by crossing a plant of the corn variety I286346 with a corn plant of a second variety, wherein a sample of seed of corn variety I286346 has been deposited under ATCC Accession No. PTA-9741; (b) crossing the progeny plant with itself or a second plant to produce a seed of a progeny plant of a subsequent generation; (c) growing a progeny plant of a subsequent generation from said seed and crossing the progeny plant of a subsequent generation with itself or a second plant; and (d) repeating steps (b) and (c) for an additional 3-10 generations with sufficient inbreeding to produce an inbred corn plant derived from the corn variety I286346.

21. A method of producing a commodity plant product comprising obtaining the plant of claim 2 or a part thereof and producing said commodity plant product therefrom.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the commodity plant product is starch, seed oil, corn syrup or protein.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to the field of corn breeding. In particular, the invention relates to corn seed and plants of the variety designated I286346, and derivatives and tissue cultures thereof.

2. Description of Related Art

The goal of field crop breeding is to combine various desirable traits in a single variety/hybrid. Such desirable traits include greater yield, better stalks, better roots, resistance to insecticides, herbicides, pests, and disease, tolerance to heat and drought, reduced time to crop maturity, better agronomic quality, higher nutritional value, and uniformity in germination times, stand establishment, growth rate, maturity, and fruit size.

Breeding techniques take advantage of a plant's method of pollination. There are two general methods of pollination: a plant self-pollinates if pollen from one flower is transferred to the same or another flower of the same plant. A plant cross-pollinates if pollen comes to it from a flower on a different plant.

Corn plants (Zea mays L.) can be bred by both self-pollination and cross-pollination. Both types of pollination involve the corn plant's flowers. Corn has separate male and female flowers on the same plant, located on the tassel and the ear, respectively. Natural pollination occurs in corn when wind blows pollen from the tassels to the silks that protrude from the tops of the ear shoot.

Plants that have been self-pollinated and selected for type over many generations become homozygous at almost all gene loci and produce a uniform population of true breeding progeny, a homozygous plant. A cross between two such homozygous plants produces a uniform population of hybrid plants that are heterozygous for many gene loci. Conversely, a cross of two plants each heterozygous at a number of loci produces a population of hybrid plants that differ genetically and are not uniform. The resulting non-uniformity makes performance unpredictable.

The development of uniform corn plant hybrids requires the development of homozygous inbred plants, the crossing of these inbred plants, and the evaluation of the crosses. Pedigree breeding and recurrent selection are examples of breeding methods used to develop inbred plants from breeding populations. Those breeding methods combine the genetic backgrounds from two or more inbred plants or various other broad-based sources into breeding pools from which new inbred plants are developed by selfing and selection of desired phenotypes. The new inbreds are crossed with other inbred plants and the hybrids from these crosses are evaluated to determine which of those have commercial potential.

North American farmers plant tens of millions of acres of corn at the present time and there are extensive national and international commercial corn breeding programs. A continuing goal of these corn breeding programs is to develop corn hybrids that are based on stable inbred plants and have one or more desirable characteristics. To accomplish this goal, the corn breeder must select and develop superior inbred parental plants.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one aspect, the present invention provides a corn plant of the variety designated I286346. Also provided are corn plants having all the physiological and morphological characteristics of the inbred corn variety I286346. The inbred corn plant of the invention may further comprise, or have, a cytoplasmic or nuclear factor that is capable of conferring male sterility or otherwise preventing self-pollination, such as by self-incompatibility. Parts of the corn plant of the present invention are also provided, for example, pollen obtained from an inbred plant and an ovule of the inbred plant.

The invention also concerns seed of the inbred corn variety I286346. The inbred corn seed of the invention may be provided as an essentially homogeneous population of inbred corn seed of the variety designated I286346. Essentially homogeneous populations of inbred seed are generally free from substantial numbers of other seed. Therefore, in the practice of the present invention, inbred seed generally forms at least about 97% of the total seed. The population of inbred corn seed of the invention may be particularly defined as being essentially free from hybrid seed. The inbred seed population may be separately grown to provide an essentially homogeneous population of inbred corn plants designated I286346.

In another aspect of the invention, a plant of corn variety I286346 comprising an added heritable trait is provided. The heritable trait may comprise a genetic locus that is a dominant or recessive allele. In one embodiment of the invention, a plant of corn variety I286346 comprising a single locus conversion in particular is provided. In specific embodiments of the invention, an added genetic locus confers one or more traits such as, for example, male sterility, herbicide tolerance, insect resistance, disease resistance, waxy starch, modified fatty acid metabolism, modified phytic acid metabolism, modified carbohydrate metabolism and modified protein metabolism. The trait may be, for example, conferred by a naturally occurring maize gene introduced into the genome of the variety by backcrossing, a natural or induced mutation, or a transgene introduced through genetic transformation techniques. When introduced through transformation, a genetic locus may comprise one or more transgenes integrated at a single chromosomal location.

In yet another aspect of the invention, an inbred corn plant of the variety designated I286346 is provided, wherein a cytoplasmically-inherited trait has been introduced into said inbred plant. Such cytoplasmically-inherited traits are passed to progeny through the female parent in a particular cross. An exemplary cytoplasmically-inherited trait is the male sterility trait. Cytoplasmic-male sterility (CMS) is a pollen abortion phenomenon determined by the interaction between the genes in the cytoplasm and the nucleus. Alteration in the mitochondrial genome and the lack of restorer genes in the nucleus will lead to pollen abortion. With either a normal cytoplasm or the presence of restorer gene(s) in the nucleus, the plant will produce pollen normally. A CMS plant can be pollinated by a maintainer version of the same variety, which has a normal cytoplasm but lacks the restorer gene(s) in the nucleus, and continue to be male sterile in the next generation. The male fertility of a CMS plant can be restored by a restorer version of the same variety, which must have the restorer gene(s) in the nucleus. With the restorer gene(s) in the nucleus, the offspring of the male-sterile plant can produce normal pollen grains and propagate. A cytoplasmically inherited trait may be a naturally occurring maize trait or a trait introduced through genetic transformation techniques.

In another aspect of the invention, a tissue culture of regenerable cells of a plant of variety I286346 is provided. The tissue culture will preferably be capable of regenerating plants capable of expressing all of the physiological and morphological characteristics of the variety, and of regenerating plants having substantially the same genotype as other plants of the variety. Examples of some of the physiological and morphological characteristics of the variety I286346 include characteristics related to yield, maturity, and kernel quality, each of which is specifically disclosed herein. The regenerable cells in such tissue cultures will preferably be derived from embryos, meristematic cells, immature tassels, microspores, pollen, leaves, anthers, roots, root tips, silk, flowers, kernels, ears, cobs, husks, or stalks, or from callus or protoplasts derived from those tissues. Still further, the present invention provides corn plants regenerated from the tissue cultures of the invention, the plants having all the physiological and morphological characteristics of variety I286346.

In yet another aspect of the invention, processes are provided for producing corn seeds or plants, which processes generally comprise crossing a first parent corn plant with a second parent corn plant, wherein at least one of the first or second parent corn plants is a plant of the variety designated I286346. These processes may be further exemplified as processes for preparing hybrid corn seed or plants, wherein a first inbred corn plant is crossed with a second corn plant of a different, distinct variety to provide a hybrid that has, as one of its parents, the inbred corn plant variety I286346. In these processes, crossing will result in the production of seed. The seed production occurs regardless of whether the seed is collected or not.

In one embodiment of the invention, the first step in "crossing" comprises planting, preferably in pollinating proximity, seeds of a first and second parent corn plant, and preferably, seeds of a first inbred corn plant and a second, distinct inbred corn plant. Where the plants are not in pollinating proximity, pollination can nevertheless be accomplished by transferring a pollen or tassel bag from one plant to the other as described below.

A second step comprises cultivating or growing the seeds of said first and second parent corn plants into plants that bear flowers (corn bears both male flowers (tassels) and female flowers (silks) in separate anatomical structures on the same plant). A third step comprises preventing self-pollination of the plants, i.e., preventing the silks of a plant from being fertilized by any plant of the same variety, including the same plant. This is preferably done by emasculating the male flowers of the first or second parent corn plant, (i.e., treating or manipulating the flowers so as to prevent pollen production, in order to produce an emasculated parent corn plant). Self-incompatibility systems may also be used in some hybrid crops for the same purpose. Self-incompatible plants still shed viable pollen and can pollinate plants of other varieties but are incapable of pollinating themselves or other plants of the same variety.

A fourth step may comprise allowing cross-pollination to occur between the first and second parent corn plants. When the plants are not in pollinating proximity, this is done by placing a bag, usually paper or glassine, over the tassels of the first plant and another bag over the silks of the incipient ear on the second plant. The bags are left in place for at least 24 hours. Since pollen is viable for less than 24 hours, this assures that the silks are not pollinated from other pollen sources, that any stray pollen on the tassels of the first plant is dead, and that the only pollen transferred comes from the first plant. The pollen bag over the tassel of the first plant is then shaken vigorously to enhance release of pollen from the tassels, and the shoot bag is removed from the silks of the incipient ear on the second plant. Finally, the pollen bag is removed from the tassel of the first plant and is placed over the silks of the incipient ear of the second plant, shaken again and left in place. Yet another step comprises harvesting the seeds from at least one of the parent corn plants. The harvested seed can be grown to produce a corn plant or hybrid corn plant.

The present invention also provides corn seed and plants produced by a process that comprises crossing a first parent corn plant with a second parent corn plant, wherein at least one of the first or second parent corn plants is a plant of the variety designated I286346. In one embodiment of the invention, corn seed and plants produced by the process are first generation (F.sub.1) hybrid corn seed and plants produced by crossing an inbred in accordance with the invention with another, distinct inbred. The present invention further contemplates seed of an F.sub.1 hybrid corn plant. Therefore, certain exemplary embodiments of the invention provide an F.sub.1 hybrid corn plant and seed thereof.

In still yet another aspect of the invention, the genetic complement of the corn plant variety designated I286346 is provided. The phrase "genetic complement" is used to refer to the aggregate of nucleotide sequences, the expression of which sequences defines the phenotype of, in the present case, a corn plant, or a cell or tissue of that plant. A genetic complement thus represents the genetic make up of an inbred cell, tissue or plant, and a hybrid genetic complement represents the genetic make up of a hybrid cell, tissue or plant. The invention thus provides corn plant cells that have a genetic complement in accordance with the inbred corn plant cells disclosed herein, and plants, seeds and diploid plants containing such cells.

Plant genetic complements may be assessed by genetic marker profiles, and by the expression of phenotypic traits that are characteristic of the expression of the genetic complement, e.g., isozyme typing profiles. It is understood that variety I286346 could be identified by any of the many well known techniques such as, for example, Simple Sequence Length Polymorphisms (SSLPs) (Williams et al., 1990), Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNAs (RAPDs), DNA Amplification Fingerprinting (DAF), Sequence Characterized Amplified Regions (SCARs), Arbitrary Primed Polymerase Chain Reaction (AP-PCR), Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphisms (AFLPs) (EP 534 858, specifically incorporated herein by reference in its entirety), and Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) (Wang et al., 1998).

In still yet another aspect, the present invention provides hybrid genetic complements, as represented by corn plant cells, tissues, plants, and seeds, formed by the combination of a haploid genetic complement of an inbred corn plant of the invention with a haploid genetic complement of a second corn plant, preferably, another, distinct inbred corn plant. In another aspect, the present invention provides a corn plant regenerated from a tissue culture that comprises a hybrid genetic complement of this invention.

In still yet another aspect, the present invention provides a method of producing an inbred corn plant derived from the corn variety I286346, the method comprising the steps of: (a) preparing a progeny plant derived from corn variety I286346, wherein said preparing comprises crossing a plant of the corn variety I286346 with a second corn plant; (b) crossing the progeny plant with itself or a second plant to produce a seed of a progeny plant of a subsequent generation; (c) growing a progeny plant of a subsequent generation from said seed of a progeny plant of a subsequent generation and crossing the progeny plant of a subsequent generation with itself or a second plant; and (d) repeating steps (c) and (d) for an addition 3-10 generations to produce an inbred corn plant derived from the corn variety I286346. In the method, it may be desirable to select particular plants resulting from step (c) for continued crossing according to steps (b) and (c). By selecting plants having one or more desirable traits, an inbred corn plant derived from the corn variety I286346 is obtained which possesses some of the desirable traits of corn variety I286346 as well potentially other selected traits.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

I. Definitions of Plant Characteristics

Barren Plants: Plants that are barren, i.e., lack an ear with grain, or have an ear with only a few scattered kernels.

Cg: Colletotrichum graminicola rating. Rating times 10 is approximately equal to percent total plant infection.

CLN: Corn Lethal Necrosis (combination of Maize Chlorotic Mottle Virus and Maize Dwarf Mosaic virus) rating: numerical ratings are based on a severity scale where 1=most resistant to 9=susceptible.

Cn: Corynebacterium nebraskense rating. Rating times 10 is approximately equal to percent total plant infection.

Cz: Cercospora zeae-maydis rating. Rating times 10 is approximately equal to percent total plant infection.

Dgg: Diatraea grandiosella girdling rating (values are percent plants girdled and stalk lodged).

Dropped Ears: Ears that have fallen from the plant to the ground.

Dsp: Diabrotica species root ratings (1=least affected to 9=severe pruning).

Ear-Attitude: The attitude or position of the ear at harvest scored as upright, horizontal, or pendant.

Ear-Cob Color: The color of the cob, scored as white, pink, red, or brown.

Ear-Cob Diameter: The average diameter of the cob measured at the midpoint.

Ear-Cob Strength: A measure of mechanical strength of the cobs to breakage, scored as strong or weak.

Ear-Diameter: The average diameter of the ear at its midpoint.

Ear-Dry Husk Color: The color of the husks at harvest scored as buff, red, or purple.

Ear-Fresh Husk Color: The color of the husks 1 to 2 weeks after pollination scored as green, red, or purple.

Ear-Husk Bract: The length of an average husk leaf scored as short, medium, or long.

Ear-Husk Cover: The average distance from the tip of the ear to the tip of the husks. Minimum value no less than zero.

Ear-Husk Opening: An evaluation of husk tightness at harvest scored as tight, intermediate, or open.

Ear-Length: The average length of the ear.

Ear-Number Per Stalk: The average number of ears per plant.

Ear-Shank Internodes: The average number of internodes on the ear shank.

Ear-Shank Length: The average length of the ear shank.

Ear-Shelling Percent: The average of the shelled grain weight divided by the sum of the shelled grain weight and cob weight for a single ear.

Ear-Silk Color: The color of the silk observed 2 to 3 days after silk emergence scored as green-yellow, yellow, pink, red, or purple.

Ear-Taper (Shape): The taper or shape of the ear scored as conical, semi-conical, or cylindrical.

Ear-Weight: The average weight of an ear.

Early Stand: The percent of plants that emerge from the ground as determined in the early spring.

ER: Ear rot rating (values approximate percent ear rotted).

Final Stand Count: The number of plants just prior to harvest.

GDUs: Growing degree units which are calculated by the Barger Method, where the heat units for a 24-h period are calculated as GDUs=[(Maximum daily temperature+Minimum daily temperature)/2]-50. The highest maximum daily temperature used is 86.degree. F. and the lowest minimum temperature used is 50.degree. F.

GDUs to Shed: The number of growing degree units (GDUs) or heat units required for an inbred line or hybrid to have approximately 50% of the plants shedding pollen as measured from time of planting. GDUs to shed is determined by summing the individual GDU daily values from planting date to the date of 50% pollen shed.

GDUs to Silk: The number of growing degree units for an inbred line or hybrid to have approximately 50% of the plants with silk emergence as measured from time of planting. GDUs to silk is determined by summing the individual GDU daily values from planting date to the date of 50% silking.

Hc2: Helminthosporium carbonum race 2 rating. Rating times 10 is approximately equal to percent total plant infection.

Hc3: Helminthosporium carbonum race 3 rating. Rating times 10 is approximately equal to percent total plant infection.

Hm: Helminthosporium maydis race 0 rating. Rating times 10 is approximately equal to percent total plant infection.

Ht1: Helminthosporium turcicum race 1 rating. Rating times 10 is approximately equal to percent total plant infection.

Ht2: Helminthosporium turcicum race 2 rating. Rating times 10 is approximately equal to percent total plant infection.

HtG: Chlorotic-lesion type resistance. +=indicates the presence of Ht chlorotic-lesion type resistance; -=indicates absence of Ht chlorotic-lesion type resistance; and +/-=indicates segregation of Ht chlorotic-lesion type resistance. Rating times 10 is approximately equal to percent total plant infection.

Kernel-Aleurone Color: The color of the aleurone scored as white, pink, tan, brown, bronze, red, purple, pale purple, colorless, or variegated.

Kernel-Cap Color: The color of the kernel cap observed at dry stage, scored as white, lemon-yellow, yellow, or orange.

Kernel-Endosperm Color: The color of the endosperm scored as white, pale yellow, or yellow.

Kernel-Endosperm Type: The type of endosperm scored as normal, waxy, or opaque.

Kernel-Grade: The percent of kernels that are classified as rounds.

Kernel-Length: The average distance from the cap of the kernel to the pedicel.

Kernel-Number Per Row: The average number of kernels in a single row.

Kernel-Pericarp Color: The color of the pericarp scored as colorless, red-white crown, tan, bronze, brown, light red, cherry red, or variegated.

Kernel-Row Direction: The direction of the kernel rows on the ear scored as straight, slightly curved, spiral, or indistinct (scattered).

Kernel-Row Number: The average number of rows of kernels on a single ear.

Kernel-Side Color: The color of the kernel side observed at the dry stage, scored as white, pale yellow, yellow, orange, red, or brown.

Kernel-Thickness: The distance across the narrow side of the kernel.

Kernel-Type: The type of kernel scored as dent, flint, or intermediate.

Kernel-Weight: The average weight of a predetermined number of kernels.

Kernel-Width: The distance across the flat side of the kernel.

Kz: Kabatiella zeae rating. Rating times 10 is approximately equal to percent total plant infection.

Leaf-Angle: Angle of the upper leaves to the stalk scored as upright (0 to 30 degrees), intermediate (30 to 60 degrees), or lax (60 to 90 degrees).

Leaf-Color: The color of the leaves 1 to 2 weeks after pollination scored as light green, medium green, dark green, or very dark green.

Leaf-Length: The average length of the primary ear leaf.

Leaf-Longitudinal Creases: A rating of the number of longitudinal creases on the leaf surface 1 to 2 weeks after pollination. Creases are scored as absent, few, or many.

Leaf-Marginal Waves: A rating of the waviness of the leaf margin 1 to 2 weeks after pollination. Rated as none, few, or many.

Leaf-Number: The average number of leaves of a mature plant. Counting begins with the cotyledonary leaf and ends with the flag leaf.

Leaf-Sheath Anthocyanin: A rating of the level of anthocyanin in the leaf sheath 1 to 2 weeks after pollination, scored as absent, basal-weak, basal-strong, weak or strong.

Leaf-Sheath Pubescence: A rating of the pubescence of the leaf sheath. Ratings are taken 1 to 2 weeks after pollination and scored as light, medium, or heavy.

Leaf-Width: The average width of the primary ear leaf measured at its widest point.

LSS: Late season standability (values times 10 approximate percent plants lodged in disease evaluation plots).

Moisture: The moisture of the grain at harvest.

On1: Ostrinia nubilalis 1st brood rating (1=resistant to 9=susceptible).

On2: Ostrinia nubilalis 2nd brood rating (1=resistant to 9=susceptible).

Relative Maturity: A maturity rating based on regression analysis. The regression analysis is developed by utilizing check hybrids and their previously established day rating versus actual harvest moistures. Harvest moisture on the hybrid in question is determined and that moisture value is inserted into the regression equation to yield a relative maturity.

Root Lodging: Root lodging is the percentage of plants that root lodge. A plant is counted as root lodged if a portion of the plant leans from the vertical axis by approximately 30 degrees or more.

Seedling Color: Color of leaves at the 6 to 8 leaf stage.

Seedling Height: Plant height at the 6 to 8 leaf stage.

Seedling Vigor: A visual rating of the amount of vegetative growth on a 1 to 9 scale, where 1 equals best. The score is taken when the average entry in a trial is at the fifth leaf stage.

Selection Index: The selection index gives a single measure of hybrid's worth based on information from multiple traits. One of the traits that is almost always included is yield. Traits may be weighted according to the level of importance assigned to them.

Sr: Sphacelotheca reiliana rating is actual percent infection.

Stalk-Anthocyanin: A rating of the amount of anthocyanin pigmentation in the stalk. The stalk is rated 1 to 2 weeks after pollination as absent, basal-weak, basal-strong, weak, or strong.

Stalk-Brace Root Color: The color of the brace roots observed 1 to 2 weeks after pollination as green, red, or purple.

Stalk-Diameter: The average diameter of the lowest visible internode of the stalk.

Stalk-Ear Height: The average height of the ear measured from the ground to the point of attachment of the ear shank of the top developed ear to the stalk.

Stalk-Internode Direction: The direction of the stalk internode observed after pollination as straight or zigzag.

Stalk-Internode Length: The average length of the internode above the primary ear.

Stalk Lodging: The percentage of plants that did stalk lodge. Plants are counted as stalk lodged if the plant is broken over or off below the ear.

Stalk-Nodes With Brace Roots: The average number of nodes having brace roots per plant.

Stalk-Plant Height: The average height of the plant as measured from the soil to the tip of the tassel.

Stalk-Tillers: The percent of plants that have tillers. A tiller is defined as a secondary shoot that has developed as a tassel capable of shedding pollen.

Staygreen: Staygreen is a measure of general plant health near the time of black layer formation (physiological maturity). It is usually recorded at the time the ear husks of most entries within a trial have turned a mature color. Scoring is on a 1 to 9 basis where 1 equals best.

STR: Stalk rot rating (values represent severity rating of 1=25% of inoculated internode rotted to 9=entire stalk rotted and collapsed).

SVC: Southeastern Virus Complex (combination of Maize Chlorotic Dwarf Virus and Maize Dwarf Mosaic Virus) rating; numerical ratings are based on a severity scale where 1=most resistant to 9=susceptible (1988 reactions are largely Maize Dwarf Mosaic Virus reactions).

Tassel-Anther Color: The color of the anthers at 50% pollen shed scored as green-yellow, yellow, pink, red, or purple.

Tassel-Attitude: The attitude of the tassel after pollination scored as open or compact.

Tassel-Branch Angle: The angle of an average tassel branch to the main stem of the tassel scored as upright (less than 30 degrees), intermediate (30 to 45 degrees), or lax (greater than 45 degrees).

Tassel-Branch Number: The average number of primary tassel branches.

Tassel-Glume Band: The closed anthocyanin band at the base of the glume scored as present or absent.

Tassel-Glume Color: The color of the glumes at 50% shed scored as green, red, or purple.

Tassel-Length: The length of the tassel measured from the base of the bottom tassel branch to the tassel tip.

Tassel-Peduncle Length: The average length of the tassel peduncle, measured from the base of the flag leaf to the base of the bottom tassel branch.

Tassel-Pollen Shed: A visual rating of pollen shed determined by tapping the tassel and observing the pollen flow of approximately five plants per entry. Rated on a 1 to 9 scale where 9=sterile, 1=most pollen.

Tassel-Spike Length: The length of the spike measured from the base of the top tassel branch to the tassel tip.

Test Weight: Weight of the grain in pounds for a given volume (bushel) adjusted to 15.5% moisture.

Yield: Yield of grain at harvest adjusted to 15.5% moisture.

II. Other Definitions

Allele: Any of one or more alternative forms of a gene locus, all of which alleles relate to one trait or characteristic. In a diploid cell or organism, the two alleles of a given gene occupy corresponding loci on a pair of homologous chromosomes.

Backcrossing: A process in which a breeder repeatedly crosses hybrid progeny back to one of the parents, for example, a first generation hybrid (F.sub.1) with one of the parental genotypes of the F.sub.1 hybrid.

Chromatography: A technique wherein a mixture of dissolved substances are bound to a solid support followed by passing a column of fluid across the solid support and varying the composition of the fluid. The components of the mixture are separated by selective elution.

Crossing: The pollination of a female flower of a corn plant, thereby resulting in the production of seed from the flower.

Cross-pollination: Fertilization by the union of two gametes from different plants.

Diploid: A cell or organism having two sets of chromosomes.

Emasculate: The removal of plant male sex organs or the inactivation of the organs with a chemical agent or a cytoplasmic or nuclear genetic factor conferring male sterility.

F.sub.1 Hybrid: The first generation progeny of the cross of two plants.

Genetic Complement: An aggregate of nucleotide sequences, the expression of which sequences defines the phenotype in corn plants, or components of plants including cells or tissue.

Genotype: The genetic constitution of a cell or organism.

Haploid: A cell or organism having one set of the two sets of chromosomes in a diploid.

Isozymes: Detectable variants of an enzyme, the variants catalyzing the same reaction(s) but differing from each other, e.g., in primary structure and/or electrophoretic mobility. The differences between isozymes are under single gene, codominant control. Consequently, electrophoretic separation to produce band patterns can be equated to different alleles at the DNA level. Structural differences that do not alter charge cannot be detected by this method.

Linkage: A phenomenon wherein alleles on the same chromosome tend to segregate together more often than expected by chance if their transmission was independent.

Marker: A readily detectable phenotype, preferably inherited in codominant fashion (both alleles at a locus in a diploid heterozygote are readily detectable), with no environmental variance component, i.e., heritability of 1.

Phenotype: The detectable characteristics of a cell or organism, which characteristics are the manifestation of gene expression.

Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL): Genetic loci that contribute, at least in part, certain numerically representable traits that are usually continuously distributed.

Regeneration: The development of a plant from tissue culture.

SSR profile: A profile of simple sequence repeats used as genetic markers and scored by gel electrophoresis following PCR.TM. amplification using flanking oligonucleotide primers.

Self-pollination: The transfer of pollen from the anther to the stigma of the same plant.

Single Locus Converted (Conversion) Plant: Plants which are developed by a plant breeding technique called backcrossing wherein essentially all of the desired morphological and physiological characteristics of an inbred are recovered in addition to the characteristics conferred by the single locus transferred into the inbred via the backcrossing technique.

Tissue Culture: A composition comprising isolated cells of the same or a different type or a collection of such cells organized into parts of a plant.

Transgene: A genetic sequence which has been introduced into the nuclear or chloroplast genome of a maize plant by a genetic transformation technique.

The following examples are included to demonstrate preferred embodiments of the invention. It should be appreciated by those of skill in the art that the techniques disclosed in the examples that follow represent techniques discovered by the inventor to function well in the practice of the invention, and thus can be considered to constitute preferred modes for its practice. However, those of skill in the art should, in light of the present disclosure, appreciate that many changes can be made in the specific embodiments that are disclosed and still obtain a like or similar result without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

III. Inbred Corn Plant I286346

A. Origin and Breeding History

Inbred plant I286346 was derived from a cross between the lines 87DIA4 and 90QZD2. The origin and breeding history of inbred plant I286346 can be summarized as follows: Winter 1999-2000 The inbred line 87DIA4 (a proprietary DEKALB Genetics Corporation inbred) was crossed to the inbred line 90QZD2 (a proprietary DEKALB Genetics Corporation inbred) in nursery rows 81176 and 81196. Winter 1999-2000 F1 seed was grown and self-pollinated in row 103. Summer 2000 F2 seed was grown and self-pollinated in range rows 924-6 to 925-22 Summer 2001 F3 seed was grown and self-pollinated in row 4460. 3 ears were selected. Winter 2001-2002 F4 seed was grown and self-pollinated in row 1443. 3 ears were selected. Summer 2002 F5 seed was grown and self-pollinated in row 7606. 3 ears were selected and coded as corn variety I286346. Winter 2002-2003 F6 seed was grown and self-pollinated in row 1205. 4 ears were selected. Summer 2003 F7 seed was grown and self-pollinated. Final selection was completed in row 506-60. This selection consisted of bulking F8 ears.

Corn variety I286346 shows uniformity and stability within the limits of environmental influence for the traits described hereinafter in Table 1. I286346 has been self-pollinated and ear-rowed a sufficient number of generations with careful attention paid to uniformity of plant type to ensure homozygosity and phenotypic stability. No variant traits have been observed or are expected in I286346.

Inbred corn plants can be reproduced by planting the seeds of the inbred corn plant I286346, growing the resulting corn plants under self-pollinating or sib-pollinating conditions with adequate isolation using standard techniques well known to an artisan skilled in the agricultural arts. Seeds can be harvested from such a plant using standard, well known procedures.

B. Phenotypic Description

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a corn plant having the physiological and morphological characteristics of corn plant I286346. A description of the physiological and morphological characteristics of corn plant I286346 is presented in Table 1.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Morphological Traits for Corn Variety I286346 and a Comparative Corn Variety VALUE CHARACTERISTIC I286346 87DIA4 90QZD2 1. STALK Diameter (width) cm. 2.1 1.9 2.2 Anthocyanin Absent Absent Absent Brace Root Color Moderate Red Faint Nodes With Brace 2.0 1.4 2.0 Roots Internode Direction Straight Straight Straight Internode Length cm. 13.0 10.2 14.0 2. LEAF Color Green Medium Green Green Length cm. 71.0 68.0 77.5 Width cm. 9.0 10.0 8.6 Sheath Anthocyanin Absent Weak Absent Sheath Pubescence Light Moderate Moderate Marginal Waves Moderate Few Few Longitudinal Creases Moderate Absent Moderate 3. TASSEL Length cm. 31.0 29.5 42.1 Spike Length cm. 21.0 19.5 22.0 Peduncle Length cm. 6.0 2.9 10.4 Branch Number 5.0 4.5 6.0 Anther Color Purple Red Yellow Glume Color Pale purple Green Green Glume Band Absent Absent Absent 4. EAR Silk Color Yellow Pink Green-yellow Number Per Stalk 1.0 1.1 1.0 Position (attitude) Upright Upright -- Length cm. 16.2 15.6 11.8 Shape Conical Semi- Cylindrical Conical Diameter cm. 3.7 3.8 4.1 Shank Length cm. 9.8 16.5 8.3 Husk Bract Short Short Short Husk Cover cm. 2.9 3.4 13.8 Husk Opening Tight Tight -- Husk Color Fresh Green Green Green Husk Color Dry Buff Buff Buff Cob Diameter cm. 2.2 2.3 2.3 Cob Color Pink Red Red Shelling Percent 89.5 85.1 84.0 5. KERNEL Row Number 13.6 14.0 16.0 Number Per Row 30.0 31.4 22.8 Row Direction Straight Curved Straight Type Flint Dent Dent Cap Color Deep yellow Yellow Deep yellow Side Color Yellow- Yellow Yellow orange Length (depth) mm. 10.5 10.2 11.6 Width mm. 7.5 8.1 7.5 Thickness 4.0 4.3 4.4 Endosperm Type Normal Normal Normal Endosperm Color Orange Yellow Yellow *These are typical values. Values may vary due to environment. Other values that are substantially equivalent are also within the scope of the invention.

C. Deposit Information

Applicant has made a deposit of at least 2500 seeds of corn variety I286346 with the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC), 10801 University Boulevard, Manassas, Va. 20110-2209 USA, which was assigned ATCC Accession No. PTA-9741. The seeds were deposited with the ATCC on Jan. 29, 2009, and were taken from a deposit maintained by Monsanto Company since prior to the filing date of this application. Access to this deposit will be available during the pendency of the application to the Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks and persons determined by the Commissioner to be entitled thereto upon request. The deposit will be maintained in the ATCC Depository, which is a public depository, for a period of 30 years, or 5 years after the most recent request, or for the enforceable life of the patent, whichever is longer, and will be replaced if it becomes nonviable during that period. Applicant does not waive any infringement of their rights granted under this patent or under the Plant Variety Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 2321 et seq.).

IV. Further Embodiments of the Invention

In certain further aspects, the invention provides plants modified to include at least a first desired heritable trait. Such plants may, in one embodiment, be developed by a plant breeding technique called backcrossing, wherein essentially all of the desired morphological and physiological characteristics of a variety are recovered in addition to a genetic locus transferred into the plant via the backcrossing technique.

Backcrossing methods can be used with the present invention to improve or introduce a trait into a variety. The term backcrossing as used herein refers to the repeated crossing of a hybrid progeny back to one of the parental corn plants. The parental corn plant which contributes the locus or loci for the desired trait is termed the nonrecurrent or donor parent. This terminology refers to the fact that the nonrecurrent parent is used one time in the backcross protocol and therefore does not recur.

The parental corn plant to which the locus or loci from the nonrecurrent parent are transferred is known as the recurrent parent as it is used for several rounds in the backcrossing protocol (Poehlman et al., 1995; Fehr, 1987; Sprague and Dudley, 1988). In a typical backcross protocol, the original parent of interest (recurrent parent) is crossed to a second variety (nonrecurrent parent) that carries the genetic locus of interest to be transferred. The resulting progeny from this cross are then crossed again to the recurrent parent and the process is repeated until a corn plant is obtained wherein essentially all of the desired morphological and physiological characteristics of the recurrent parent are recovered in the converted plant, in addition to the transferred locus from the nonrecurrent parent. The backcross process may be accelerated by the use of genetic markers, such as SSR, RFLP, SNP or AFLP markers to identify plants with the greatest genetic complement from the recurrent parent.

The selection of a suitable recurrent parent is an important step for a successful backcrossing procedure. The goal of a backcross protocol is to add or substitute one or more new traits in the original variety and progeny therefrom. To accomplish this, a genetic locus of the recurrent parent is modified or substituted with the desired locus from the nonrecurrent parent, while retaining essentially all of the rest of the desired genetic, and therefore the desired physiological and morphological constitution of the original plant. The choice of the particular nonrecurrent parent will depend on the purpose of the backcross; one of the major purposes is to add some commercially desirable, agronomically important trait to the plant. The exact backcrossing protocol will depend on the characteristic or trait being altered to determine an appropriate testing protocol. Although backcrossing methods are simplified when the characteristic being transferred is a dominant allele, a recessive allele may also be transferred. In this instance it may be necessary to introduce a test of the progeny to determine if the desired characteristic has been successfully transferred.

Many traits have been identified that are not regularly selected for in the development of a new variety but that can be improved by backcrossing techniques. A genetic locus conferring the traits may or may not be transgenic. Examples of such traits known to those of skill in the art include, but are not limited to, male sterility, waxy starch, herbicide resistance, resistance for bacterial, fungal, or viral disease, insect resistance, male fertility and enhanced nutritional quality. These genes are generally inherited through the nucleus, but may be inherited through the cytoplasm. Some known exceptions to this are genes for male sterility, some of which are inherited cytoplasmically, but still act as a single locus trait.

Direct selection may be applied where a genetic locus acts as a dominant trait. An example of a dominant trait is the herbicide resistance trait. For this selection process, the progeny of the initial cross are sprayed with the herbicide prior to the backcrossing. The spraying eliminates any plants which do not have the desired herbicide resistance characteristic, and only those plants which have the herbicide resistance gene are used in the subsequent backcross. This process is then repeated for all additional backcross generations.

Many useful traits are those which are introduced by genetic transformation techniques. Methods for the genetic transformation of corn are known to those of skill in the art. For example, methods which have been described for the genetic transformation of corn include electroporation (U.S. Pat. No. 5,384,253), electrotransformation (U.S. Pat. No. 5,371,003), microprojectile bombardment (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,550,318; 5,736,369, 5,538,880; and PCT Publication WO 95/06128), Agrobacterium-mediated transformation (U.S. Pat. No. 5,591,616 and E.P. Publication EP672752), direct DNA uptake transformation of protoplasts (Omirulleh et al., 1993) and silicon carbide fiber-mediated transformation (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,302,532 and 5,464,765).

It is understood to those of skill in the art that a transgene need not be directly transformed into a plant, as techniques for the production of stably transformed corn plants that pass single loci to progeny by Mendelian inheritance is well known in the art. Such loci may therefore be passed from parent plant to progeny plants by standard plant breeding techniques that are well known in the art. Examples of traits that may be introduced into a corn plant according to the invention are provided below.

A. Male Sterility

Examples of genes conferring male sterility include those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,861,709, 3,710,511, 4,654,465, 5,625,132, and 4,727,219, each of the disclosures of which are specifically incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. The use of herbicide-inducible male sterility genes is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,762,344. Male sterility genes can increase the efficiency with which hybrids are made, in that they eliminate the need to physically emasculate the corn plant used as a female in a given cross.

Where one desires to employ male-sterility systems with a corn plant in accordance with the invention, it may be beneficial to also utilize one or more male-fertility restorer genes. For example, where cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) is used, hybrid seed production requires three inbred lines: (1) a cytoplasmically male-sterile line having a CMS cytoplasm; (2) a fertile inbred with normal cytoplasm, which is isogenic with the CMS line for nuclear genes ("maintainer line"); and (3) a distinct, fertile inbred with normal cytoplasm, carrying a fertility restoring gene ("restorer" line). The CMS line is propagated by pollination with the maintainer line, with all of the progeny being male sterile, as the CMS cytoplasm is derived from the female parent. These male sterile plants can then be efficiently employed as the female parent in hybrid crosses with the restorer line, without the need for physical emasculation of the male reproductive parts of the female parent.

The presence of a male-fertility restorer gene results in the production of fully fertile F.sub.1 hybrid progeny. If no restorer gene is present in the male parent, male-sterile hybrids are obtained. Such hybrids are useful where the vegetative tissue of the corn plant is utilized, e.g., for silage, but in most cases, the seeds will be deemed the most valuable portion of the crop, so fertility of the hybrids in these crops must be restored. Therefore, one aspect of the current invention concerns plants of the corn variety I286346 comprising a genetic locus capable of restoring male fertility in an otherwise male-sterile plant. Examples of male-sterility genes and corresponding restorers which could be employed with the plants of the invention are well known to those of skill in the art of plant breeding and are disclosed in, for instance, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,530,191; 5,689,041; 5,741,684; and 5,684,242, the disclosures of which are each specifically incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

B. Herbicide Resistance

Numerous herbicide resistance genes are known and may be employed with the invention. An example is a gene conferring resistance to a herbicide that inhibits the growing point or meristem, such as an imidazalinone or a sulfonylurea. Exemplary genes in this category code for mutant ALS and AHAS enzyme as described, for example, by Lee et al., (1988); Gleen et al., (1992) and Miki et al., (1990).

Resistance genes for glyphosate (resistance conferred by mutant 5-enolpyruvl-3 phosphikimate synthase (EPSP) and aroA genes, respectively) and other phosphono compounds such as glufosinate (phosphinothricin acetyl transferase (PAT) and Streptomyces hygroscopicus phosphinothricin-acetyl transferase (bar) genes) may also be used. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,940,835 to Shah, et al., which discloses the nucleotide sequence of a form of EPSPS which can confer glyphosate resistance. Examples of specific EPSPS transformation events conferring glyphosate resistance are provided by U.S. Pat. No. 6,040,497.

A DNA molecule encoding a mutant aroA gene can be obtained under ATCC accession number 39256, and the nucleotide sequence of the mutant gene is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,769,061 to Comai. European patent application No. 0 333 033 to Kumada et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,975,374 to Goodman et al., disclose nucleotide sequences of glutamine synthetase genes which confer resistance to herbicides such as L-phosphinothricin. The nucleotide sequence of a phosphinothricin-acetyltransferase gene is provided in European application No. 0 242 246 to Leemans et al. DeGreef et al., (1989), describe the production of transgenic plants that express chimeric bar genes coding for phosphinothricin acetyl transferase activity. Exemplary of genes conferring resistance to phenoxy propionic acids and cycloshexones, such as sethoxydim and haloxyfop are the Acct-S1, Accl-S2 and Acct-S3 genes described by Marshall et al., (1992).

Genes are also known conferring resistance to a herbicide that inhibits photosynthesis, such as a triazine (psbA and gs+ genes) and a benzonitrile (nitrilase gene). Przibila et al., (1991), describe the transformation of Chlamydomonas with plasmids encoding mutant psbA genes. Nucleotide sequences for nitrilase genes are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,810,648 to Stalker, and DNA molecules containing these genes are available under ATCC Accession Nos. 53435, 67441, and 67442. Cloning and expression of DNA coding for a glutathione S-transferase is described by Hayes et al., (1992).

C. Waxy Starch

The waxy characteristic is an example of a recessive trait. In this example, the progeny resulting from the first backcross generation (BC1) must be grown and selfed. A test is then run on the selfed seed from the BC1 plant to determine which BC1 plants carried the recessive gene for the waxy trait. In other recessive traits additional progeny testing, for example growing additional generations such as the BC1S1, may be required to determine which plants carry the recessive gene.

D. Disease Resistance

Plant defenses are often activated by specific interaction between the product of a disease resistance gene (R) in the plant and the product of a corresponding avirulence (Avr) gene in the pathogen. A plant line can be transformed with cloned resistance gene to engineer plants that are resistant to specific pathogen strains. See, for example Jones et al., (1994) (cloning of the tomato