Abstract
Plants resistant to the herbicide 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) were produced through the genetic engineering of a novel detoxification pathway into the cells of a species normally sensitive to 2,4-D. We cloned the gene for 2,4-D monooxygenase, the first enzyme in the plasmid-encoded 2,4-D degradative pathway of the bacterium Alcaligenes eutrophus, into a cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter expression vector and introduced it into tobacco plants by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Transgenic tobacco plants expressing the highest levels of the monooxygenase enzyme exhibited increased tolerance to 2,4-D in leaf disc and seed germination assays, and young plants survived spraying with levels of herbicide up to eight times the usual field application rate. The introduction of the gene for 2,4-D monooxygenase into broad-leaved crop plants, such as cotton, should eventually allow 2,4-D to be used as an inexpensive post-emergence herbicide on economically important dicot crops.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
An G, Watson BD, Stachel S, Gordon MP, Nester EW: New cloning vehicles for transformation of higher plants. EMBO J 4: 277–284 (1985).
Bray HG, Thorpe WV, White K: The fate of certain organic acids and amides in the rabbit. 10. The application of paper chromatography to metabolic studies of hydroxybenzoic acids and amides. Biochem J 46: 271–275 (1950).
DeBlock M, Botterman J, Vandewiele M, Dockx J, Thoen C, Gossele V, Rao Movva N, Thompson C, VanMontagu M, Leemans I: Engineering herbicide resistance in plants by expression of a detoxifying enzyme. EMBO J 6: 2513–2518 (1987).
Don RH, Pemberton JM: Properties of six pesticide degradation plasmids isolated from Alcaligenes eutrophus and Alcaligenes paradoxus. J Bact 145: 681–686 (1981).
Don RH, Weightman AJ, Knackmuss H-J, Timmis KN: Transposon mutagenesis and cloning analysis of pathways for degradation of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid and 3-chlorobenzoate in Alcaligenes eutrophus JMP134 (pJP4) J Bact 161: 85–90 (1985).
Eghtedarzadeh MK, Henikoff S: Use of oligonucleotides to generate large deletions. Nucl Acids Res 14: 5115 (1986).
Ellis JG, Llewellyn DJ, Dennis ES, Peacock WJ: Maize Adh-1 promoter sequences control anaerobic regulation: addition of upstream promoter elements from constitutive genes is necessary for expression in tobacco. EMBO J 6: 11–16 (1987).
Evans WC, Smith BSW, Fernley HN, Davies JI: Bacterial metabolism of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetate. Biochem J 122: 543–551 (1971).
Gamar Y, Gaunt JK: Bacterial metabolism of 4-chloro-2-methylphenoxyacetate. Formation of glyoxylate by side-chain cleavage. Biochem J 122: 527–531 (1971).
Gehrke L, Auron PE, Quigley GJ, Rich A, Sonenberg N: 5′-Conformation of capped alfalfa mosaic virus ribonucleic acid 4 may reflect its independence of the cap structure or of cap-binding protein for efficient translation. Biochemistry 22: 5157–5164 (1983).
Ghosal D, You I-S: Nucleotide homology and organization of chlorocatechol oxidation genes of plasmids pJP4 and pAC27. Mol Gen Genet 211: 113–120 (1988).
Hoekema A, Hirsch PR, Hooykaas PJJ, Schilperoort RA: A binary plant vector strategy based on separation of vir and T-region of the Agrobacterium tumefaciens Ti-plasmid. Nature 303: 179–181 (1983).
Jobling S and Gerhke L: Enhanced translation of chimeric mRNAs containing plant viral untranslated leader sequences. Nature 325: 622–625 (1987).
Joshi CP: An inspection of the domain between putative TATA box and translation start site in 79 plant genes. Nucl Acids Res 15: 6643–6653 (1987).
Kay R, Chan A, Daly M, McPherson J: Duplication of CaMV 35S promoter sequences creates a strong enhancer for plant genes. Science 236: 1299–1302 (1987).
Maniatis T, Fritsch TE, Sambrook J: Molecular Cloning A Laboratory Manual. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, NY (1982).
Murashige T, Skoog F: A revised medium for rapl growth and bioassays with tobacco tissue cultures. Physiol Plant 15: 473–497 (1962).
Perkins EJ, Stiff CM, Lurquin PF: Use of Alcaligenes eutrophus as a source of genes for 2,4-D resistance in plants. Weed Sci 35 (Suppl. 1): 12–18 (1987).
Stalker DM, McBride KE, Malyj LD: Herbicide-resistance in transgenic plants expressing a bacterial detoxification gene. Science 242: 419–423 (1988).
Steenson TI, Walker N: The pathway of breakdown of 2: 4-dichloro-and 4-chloro-2-methyl-phenoxyacetic acid by bacteria. J Gen Microbiol 16: 146–155 (1957).
Streber WR, Timmis KN, Zenk MH: Analysis, cloning and high-level expression of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetate monooxygenase gene tfdA of Alcaligenes eutrophus JMP134. J Bact 169: 2950–2955 (1987).
Tiedje JM, Duxbury JM, Alexander M, Dawson JE: 2,4-D metabolism pathway of degradation of chlorocatechols by Arthrobacter species. J Agric Food Chem 17: 1021–1026 (1969).
Walker JC, Howard EA, Dennis ES, Peacock WJ: DNA sequences required for anaerobic expression of maize alcohol dehydrogenase 1 gene. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 84: 6624–6628 (1987).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lyon, B.R., Llewellyn, D.J., Huppatz, J.L. et al. Expression of a bacterial gene in transgenic tobacco plants confers resistance to the herbicide 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid. Plant Mol Biol 13, 533–540 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00027313
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00027313