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Expression of a bacterial gene in transgenic tobacco plants confers resistance to the herbicide 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid

Plant Molecular Biology volume 13, pages 533–540 (1989)Cite this article

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.

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Affiliations

  1. CSIRO Division of Plant Industry, GPO Box 1600, 2601, Canberra City, ACT, Australia

    Bruce R. Lyon, Danny J. Llewellyn, John L. Huppatz, Elizabeth S. Dennis & W. James Peacock

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  1. Bruce R. Lyon
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  2. Danny J. Llewellyn
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  3. John L. Huppatz
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  4. Elizabeth S. Dennis
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  5. W. James Peacock
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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

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00027313

Key words

  • 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D)
  • detoxification
  • herbicide resistance
  • transgenic plants