Polynucleotide encoding a maize herbicide resistance gene and methods for use

Abstract

This invention relates to polynucleotide sequences encoding a gene that can confer resistance to at least one herbicide. It further relates to plants and seeds of plants carrying chimeric genes comprising said polynucleotide sequences, which enhance or confer resistance to at least one herbicide, and methods of making said plants and seeds. The invention further presents sequences that can be used as molecular markers that in turn can be used to identify the region of interest in corn lines resulting from new crosses and to quickly and efficiently select the best lines for breeding strategies by avoiding sensitive lines.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60 / 780,946, filed Mar. 9, 2006 and U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60 / 888,634 filed Feb. 7, 2007, the contents of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]This invention relates to compositions and methods useful in creating or enhancing herbicide resistance in plants. Additionally, the invention relates to plants that have been genetically transformed with the compositions of the invention.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]In the commercial production of crops, it is desirable to easily and quickly eliminate unwanted plants (i.e., “weeds”) from a field of crop plants. An ideal treatment would be one which could be applied to an entire field but which would eliminate only the unwanted plants while leaving the crop plants unharmed. One such treatment system involves the use of crop plants that are tolerant to a ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0014]The present invention is directed to embodiments including an isolated polynucleotide comprising a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide capable of conferring resistance to at least one herbicide, wherein the polypeptide has an amino acid sequence of at least 85, 90 or 95% identity, when compared to SEQ ID NO:1 based on the Needleman-Wunsch alignment algorithm, or a complement of the nucleotide sequence, wherein the complement and the nucleotide sequence consist of the same number of nucleotides and are 100% complementary. The herbicides to which the polynucleotide of the embodiments imparts resistance include members of the ALS-inhibiting class; the pigment synthesis-inhibiting class; the PPO-inhibiting class; the PS II-inhibiting class; and the synthetic auxin class of herbicides. The polynucleotide of the embodiments may impart resistance to one or more herbicides from the same class, or from different classes, including representative members from all 5 classes.

Problems solved by technology

When the herbicide is sprayed on a field of herbicide-tolerant crop plants, the crop plants continue to thrive while non-herbicide-tolerant weeds are killed or severely damaged.

Herbicides and crops that are presently commercially available unfortunately have particular characteristics which can limit their usefulness in commercial crop production.

Loss of pigment results in photo-destruction of chlorophyll and whitening of plant tissues, which is why these herbicides are often called “bleaching” herbicides.

The protoporphyrinogen oxidase (PPO)-inhibiting class of herbicides interferes with the synthesis of chlorophyll, resulting in compounds that produce highly active compounds (free-radicals).

These reactive compounds disrupt cell membranes which results in the leaf burning associated with post-emergence applications of these products.

This results in the plants not being able to fix carbon dioxide and produce the carbohydrates needed for the plant to survive.

The block in electron transfer also causes an oxidative stress and the generation of radicals which cause rapid cellular damage.

Synthetic auxin herbicides mimic natural auxins and cause relatively high concentrations in the cell that result in a rapid growth response.

Susceptible plants treated with these herbicides exhibit symptoms that could be called ‘auxin overdose’, and eventually die as a result of increased rates of disorganized and uncontrolled growth.

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