Patent 7435878 was granted and assigned to Salisbury University on October, 2008 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A method for altering fertility of a plant or modifying its structure is described. The method comprises, in any order, contacting the seed of the plant with Pink-Pigmented Facultative Methylotroph (PPFM) that in the aggregate produces more or less amount of cytokinin than the PPFM that was previously associated with the plant, and then planting the seed.