Evolution in Action: Plants Resistant to Herbicides

Modern herbicides make major contributions to global food production by easily removing weeds and substituting for destructive soil cultivation. However, persistent herbicide selection of huge weed numbers across vast areas can result in the rapid evolution of herbicide resistance. Herbicides target specific enzymes, and mutations are selected that confer resistance-endowing amino acid substitutions, decreasing herbicide binding. Where herbicides bind within an enzyme catalytic site very few mutations give resistance while conserving enzyme functionality. Where herbicides bind away from a catalytic site many resistance-endowing mutations may evolve. Increasingly, resistance evolves due to mechanisms limiting…

• AA
  Australian Academy of Science
• GR
  Grains Research and Development Corporation
• IN
  Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique
• AR
  Australian Research Council