US Patent 7135625 Gene concerning brassinosteroid-sensitivity of plants and utilization thereof

The present inventors successfully produced rice dwarf mutant d61 and also isolated the OsBRI1 gene which corresponds to a region in the d61 locus. OsBRI1 is found to increase plant brassinosteroid sensitivity. Moreover, the present inventors showed that OsBRI1 functions in growth and development process of rice, such as, internode elongation by inducing internode cell elongation and the inclination of the lamina joint. By introducing antisense nucleotides or dominant negative of OsBRI1, the present inventors produced transgenic rice plants whose phenotype was modified.