Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 16
Claim 1
Independent Claim
63 words
A method for reducing expression of a polygalacturonase gene in a tomato plant cell, said method comprising: growing a transformed tomato plant cell containing DNA comprising a tomato polygalacturonase gene sequence, wherein a transcribed strand of said polygalacturonase gene sequence is complementary to polygalacturonase mRNA endogenous to said cell, whereby said complementary strand is transcribed and expression of said polygalacturonase gene is reduced.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
63 words
A method for reducing expression of a polygalacturonase gene in a tomato plant cell, said method comprising: growing a transformed tomato plant cell containing DNA comprising a tomato polygalacturonase gene sequence, wherein a transcribed strand of said polygalacturonase gene sequence is complementary to polygalacturonase mRNA endogenous to said cell, whereby said complementary strand is transcribed and expression of said polygalacturonase gene is reduced.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
72 words
The method according to claim 1, wherein said transformed tomato plant cell is obtained by a method comprising: integrating into the genome of a host tomato plant cell a construct comprising as components in the direction of transcription a transcriptional initiation region functional in said tomato plant cell, a dsDNA comprising said tomato polygalacturonase gene sequence, and a transcriptional termination region functional in said cell whereby a transformed plant cell is obtained.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
26 words
The method according to claim 1, wherein said transcribed strand is complementary to at least a portion of the 5'-untranslated sequence of said polygalacturonase messenger RNA.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
27 words
The method according to claim 1, wherein said transcribed strand is complementary to at least a portion of the 3' -untranslated sequence of said polygalacturonase messenger RNA.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
26 words
The method according to claim 1, wherein said transcribed strand is complementary to at least 15 nt of the translated region of said polygalacturonase messenger RNA.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
26 words
The method according to claim 1, wherein said transcribed strand is complementary to at least 200 nt of the translated region of said polygalacturonase messenger RNA.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
21 words
The method according to claim 1, wherein said DNA comprises a polygalacturonase encoding sequence obtainable from an EcoRI fragment of pCGN1401.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
40 words
A tomato plant having reduced expression of a polygalacturonase gene endogenous to said plant, wherein said plant is derived from a transformed tomato plant cell wherein polygalacturonase expression is reduced according to the method of any one of claims 1-4.
Claim 10
Independent Claim
79 words
A method of decreasing expression of a polygalacturonase protein in tomato fruit, said method comprising: growing a tomato plant, or progeny plants thereof, to bear fruit, wherein said plant comprises cells containing integrated into their genome a DNA construct comprising a transcriptional initiation region functional in said plant and a DNA sequence encoding a tomato polygalacturonase sequence operably joined to said transcriptional initiation region wherein a transcribed strand of said DNA sequence is complementary to tomato polygalacturonase messenger RNA.
Claim 11
Independent Claim
79 words
A method of decreasing expression of a polygalacturonase protein in tomato fruit, said method comprising: growing a tomato plant, or progeny plants thereof, to bear fruit, wherein said plant comprises cells containing integrated into their genome a DNA construct comprising a transcriptional initiation region functional in said plant and a DNA sequence encoding a tomato polygalacturonase sequence operably joined to said transcriptional initiation region wherein a transcribed strand of said DNA sequence is complementary to tomato polygalacturonase messenger RNA.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
16 words
The method according to claim 9, wherein said DNA sequence comprises at least 15 base pairs.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
16 words
The method according to claim 9, wherein said DNA sequence comprises at least 200 base pairs.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
45 words
A tomato plant cell having reduced expression of a polygalacturonase gene endogenous to said tomato plant cell, wherein said tomato plant cell is derived from a transformed tomato plant cell wherein polygalacturonase expression is reduced according to the method of any one of claims 1-4.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
33 words
A tomato plant cell having reduced expression of a polygalacturonase gene endogenous to said tomato plant cell, wherein said tomato plant cell is progeny of a tomato plant cell according to claim 12.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
27 words
A tomato plant having reduced expression of a polygalacturonase gene endogenous to said plant, wherein said plant is progeny of a tomato plant according to claim 8.