Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 25 May 2007:
Vol. 316. no. 5828, pp. 1185 - 1188
DOI: 10.1126/science.1141596
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Dicamba Resistance: Enlarging and Preserving Biotechnology-Based Weed Management Strategies

Mark R. Behrens,1* Nedim Mutlu,1* Sarbani Chakraborty,1 Razvan Dumitru,1 Wen Zhi Jiang,1 Bradley J. LaVallee,2{dagger} Patricia L. Herman,1{ddagger} Thomas E. Clemente,2,3,4 Donald P. Weeks1,4§

The advent of biotechnology-derived, herbicide-resistant crops has revolutionized farming practices in many countries. Facile, highly effective, environmentally sound, and profitable weed control methods have been rapidly adopted by crop producers who value the benefits associated with biotechnology-derived weed management traits. But a rapid rise in the populations of several troublesome weeds that are tolerant or resistant to herbicides currently used in conjunction with herbicide-resistant crops may signify that the useful lifetime of these economically important weed management traits will be cut short. We describe the development of soybean and other broadleaf plant species resistant to dicamba, a widely used, inexpensive, and environmentally safe herbicide. The dicamba resistance technology will augment current herbicide resistance technologies and extend their effective lifetime. Attributes of both nuclear- and chloroplast-encoded dicamba resistance genes that affect the potency and expected durability of the herbicide resistance trait are examined.

1 Department of Biochemistry, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA.
2 Center for Biotechnology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA.
3 Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA.
4 Plant Science Initiative, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA.

* These authors contributed equally to this work.

{dagger} Present address: Monsanto Company, St. Louis, MO U.S.A.

{ddagger} Present address: School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA.

§ To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: dweeks1{at}unl.edu

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Structural Basis of Glyphosate Tolerance Resulting from Mutations of Pro101 in Escherichia coli 5-Enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate Synthase.
M. L. Healy-Fried, T. Funke, M. A. Priestman, H. Han, and E. Schonbrunn (2007)
J. Biol. Chem. 282, 32949-32955
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)