Expression of ZmLEC1 and ZmWRI1 increases seed oil production in maize.

Increasing seed oil production is a major goal for global agriculture to meet the strong demand for oil consumption by humans and for biodiesel production. Previous studies to increase oil synthesis in plants have focused mainly on manipulation of oil pathway genes. As an alternative to single-enzyme approaches, transcription factors provide an attractive solution for altering complex traits, with the caveat that transcription factors may face the challenge of undesirable pleiotropic effects.

A phenylalanine in DGAT is a key determinant of oil content and composition in maize.

Plant oil is an important renewable resource for biodiesel production and for dietary consumption by humans and livestock. Through genetic mapping of the oil trait in plants, studies have reported multiple quantitative trait loci (QTLs) with small effects, but the molecular basis of oil QTLs remains largely unknown. Here we show that a high-oil QTL (qHO6) affecting maize seed oil and oleic-acid contents encodes an acyl-CoA:diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT1-2), which catalyzes the final step of oil synthesis.

High level accumulation of alpha-glucan in maize kernels by expressing the gtfD gene from Streptococcus mutans.

Glucosyltransferases (GTFs, EC.2.4.

Transformation of maize via Agrobacterium tumefaciens using a binary co-integrate vector system.

This chapter describes a stepwise protocol to achieve success in genetic transformation of maize using Agrobacterium tumefaciens as a DNA delivery system. Researchers will be able to effectively transform immature embryos of Hi-II and related genotypes with this protocol. The outcome of the transformation process will be transgenic embryogenic callus tissue, transgenic plants, and transgenic progeny seeds.

The maize disorganized aleurone layer 1 and 2 ( dil1, dil2) mutants lack control of the mitotic division plane in the aleurone layer of developing endosperm.

The maize ( Zea mays L.) endosperm consists of an epidermal like layer of isodiametric aleurone cells surrounding a central body of starchy endosperm cells. In disorgal1 ( dil1) and disorgal2 ( dil2) mutants the control of the mitotic division plane is relaxed or missing, resulting in mature grains with disorganized aleurone layers.