Methods are provided by which Oryza saliva plants and seeds thereof may bemodified to express a coding regionof interest using a promoter sequence operatively linked to the coding region.The promoter sequence is an isolated Oryza sativaantiquitin (OsAnt1) promoter sequence including SEQ ID NO: 1. The codingregion of interest may encode a nitrogen utilizationprotein, suitably alanine aminotransferase. Methods to develop Oryza sativaplants that have increased biomass and seed yield arealso presented. Furthermore, Oryza saliva plants may be produced that maintaina desired yield while reducing the need for highlevels of nitrogen application.
