ALS Polypeptide Mutations for Imidazolinone Herbicide Tolerance
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current technologies lack mutations in the Als1 gene that confer increased tolerance to imidazolinone herbicides, and there is a need for wheat and triticale plants with enhanced tolerance to these herbicides to enable effective spray-over techniques in agriculture, which also require methods for controlling weed growth.
Innovation Solution
Development of wheat and triticale plants with IMI nucleic acids that encode mutations in conserved amino acid sequences, particularly in Domain C, such as an alanine to threonine substitution at position 96 of the ALS polypeptide, providing increased tolerance to imidazolinone herbicides, along with methods for modifying plant tolerance and controlling weeds using these herbicides.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If spray-over techniques are used to apply herbicides over a wide area of vegetation, then productivity and ease of operation are improved, but the ability to control weeds is reduced because susceptible crop species cannot tolerate the herbicide
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by introducing specific amino acid substitutions in the AHAS enzyme (e.g., Pro-97-Leu, Ala-96-Thr) that alter the enzyme's sensitivity to imidazolinone herbicides. This molecular-level parameter change enables the crop to tolerate herbicide applications, resolving the contradiction between using spray-over techniques for efficiency and maintaining weed control effectiveness.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If imidazolinone herbicides are applied to control weeds, then weed control effectiveness is improved, but the crop is damaged or killed because it lacks tolerance to the herbicide
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by creating a specific variation in the AHAS enzyme structure through amino acid substitutions at key positions (96, 97, 198). This localized structural modification confers herbicide tolerance specifically to the crop's AHAS enzyme while leaving the herbicide's weed-killing mechanism intact, thus achieving both weed control effectiveness and crop safety simultaneously.
3Adaptability or versatility
If susceptible crop species are grown in areas where spray-over herbicide application is used, then adaptability is improved, but productivity is reduced due to lack of tolerance and resulting yield loss
Solution Approach 1:
The patent resolves this contradiction by changing the biochemical parameter of the AHAS enzyme through specific amino acid substitutions that confer herbicide tolerance. This enables susceptible crop species to adapt to spray-over herbicide application environments without yield loss, simultaneously improving both adaptability and productivity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The modified wheat and triticale plants exhibit enhanced tolerance to imidazolinone herbicides, allowing for the use of spray-over techniques and effective weed control, thereby improving agricultural efficiency and yield potential.
Implementation Method 1
Acetohydroxyacid synthase (AHAS; EC 4.1.3.18; acetolactate synthase (ALS)), encoded by the Als nucleic acid, is the first enzyme that catalyzes the biochemical synthesis of the branched chain amino acids valine, leucine, and isoleucine
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention is directed to nucleic acids encoding polypeptides that confer upon a plant tolerance to an imidazolinone and/or other acetohydroxyacid synthase (AHAS) inhibiting herbicide when expressed in the plant. The present invention also provides plants having increased tolerance to an imidazolinone and/or other AHAS-inhibiting herbicide. More particularly, the present invention includes plants containing at least one IMI nucleic acid. The present invention also includes seeds produced by these plants and methods of controlling weeds in the vicinity of these wheat plants.