A codon deletion confers resistance to herbicides inhibiting protoporphyrinogen oxidase

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006 Aug 15;103(33):12329-34. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0603137103. Epub 2006 Aug 7.

Abstract

Herbicides that act by inhibiting protoporphyrinogen oxidase (PPO) are widely used to control weeds in a variety of crops. The first weed to evolve resistance to PPO-inhibiting herbicides was Amaranthus tuberculatus, a problematic weed in the midwestern United States that previously had evolved multiple resistances to herbicides inhibiting two other target sites. Evaluation of a PPO-inhibitor-resistant A. tuberculatus biotype revealed that resistance was a (incompletely) dominant trait conferred by a single, nuclear gene. Three genes predicted to encode PPO were identified in A. tuberculatus. One gene from the resistant biotype, designated PPX2L, contained a codon deletion that was shown to confer resistance by complementation of a hemG mutant strain of Escherichia coli grown in the presence and absence of the PPO inhibitor lactofen. PPX2L is predicted to encode both plastid- and mitochondria-targeted PPO isoforms, allowing a mutation in a single gene to confer resistance to two herbicide target sites. Unique aspects of the resistance mechanism include an amino acid deletion, rather than a substitution, and the dual-targeting nature of the gene, which may explain why resistance to PPO inhibitors has been rare.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amaranthus / enzymology*
  • Amaranthus / genetics
  • Binding Sites
  • Codon*
  • Genetic Complementation Test
  • Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers
  • Herbicides / metabolism*
  • Models, Molecular
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Phenyl Ethers / metabolism
  • Protoporphyrinogen Oxidase / antagonists & inhibitors*
  • Protoporphyrinogen Oxidase / genetics
  • Protoporphyrinogen Oxidase / metabolism

Substances

  • Codon
  • Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers
  • Herbicides
  • Phenyl Ethers
  • Protoporphyrinogen Oxidase
  • lactofen

Associated data

  • GENBANK/DQ386112
  • GENBANK/DQ386113
  • GENBANK/DQ386114
  • GENBANK/DQ386115
  • GENBANK/DQ386116
  • GENBANK/DQ386117
  • GENBANK/DQ386118
  • GENBANK/DQ394875
  • GENBANK/DQ394876