Sulfonylurea herbicide-resistant Monochoria vaginalis in Korean rice culture.

Nine Monochoria vaginalis Pres1 accessions from Chonnam province, Korea were tested for resistance to the sulfonylurea herbicide, imazosulfuron, in whole-plant response bioassay. All accessions were confirmed resistant (R) to imazosulfuron. The GR50 (imazosulfuron concentration that reduced shoot dry weight by 50%) values of R accessions were 1112-3172 (accession #9) times higher than that of the standard susceptible (S) accession. Accession #9 exhibited cross-resistance to other sulfonylurea herbicides, bensulfuron-methyl, cyclosulfamuron and pyrazosulfuron-ethyl, but not to the imidazolinone herbicides, imazapyr and imazaquin. The R biotype could be controlled by other herbicides with different modes of action, such as mefenacet and pyrazolate, applied to soil at recommended rates. Foliar-applied herbicides, 2,4-D and bentazone, also controlled both the R and S biotypes. Sulfonylurea-based mixtures, except ethoxysulfuron plus fentrazamide, did not control resistant M. vaginalis. Rice yield was reduced 70% by resistant M. vaginalis that escaped pyrazosulfuron-ethyl plus molinate, compared with hand weeding in direct-seeded rice culture. In contrast, rice yield was reduced 44% by resistant M. vaginalis that survived the pyrazosulfuron-ethyl plus molinate treatment, compared with pyrazolate plus butachlor in transplanted rice culture. In vitro acetolactate synthase (ALS) activity of the R biotype was 183, 35, 130 and 31 times more resistant to imazosulfuron, bensulfuron-methyl, cyclosulfamuron and pyrazosulfuron-ethyl, respectively, than the S biotype. Imidazolinone herbicides, imazapyr and imazaquin had similar effect on in vitro ALS activity of the R and S biotypes. The in vivo ALS activity of the R biotype was also less affected than the S biotype by the sulfonylurea herbicides imazosulfuron and pyrazosulfuron-ethyl. Results of in vitro and in vivo ALS assays indicate that the resistance mechanism of M. vaginalis to sulfonylurea herbicides may be due, in part, to an alteration in the target enzyme, ALS. Since the level of resistance in the enzyme assay was much lower than that in the whole-plant assay, other mechanisms of resistance, such as herbicide metabolism, may be involved.

Cross-resistance pattern and alternative herbicides for Cyperus difformis resistant to sulfonylurea herbicides in Korea.

A Cyperus difformis L accession from Chonnam province, Korea was tested for resistance to the sulfonylurea herbicide, imazosulfuron. The accession was confirmed to be resistant (R) and was cross-resistant to other sulfonylurea herbicides, bensulfuron-methyl, cyclosulfamuron and pyrazosulfuron-ethyl, the pyrimidinyl thiobenzoate herbicide, bispyribac-sodium, and the imidazolinone herbicide imazapyr, but not to imazaquin. Multiple resistance was tested using twelve herbicides with target sites other than acetolactate synthase (ALS). The R biotype could be controlled by other herbicides with different modes of action such as butachlor, carfentrazone-ethyl, clomeprop, dithiopyr, esprocarb, mefenacet, oxadiazon, pretilachlor, pyrazolate and thiobencarb, applied to soil at recommended rates. Several sulfonylurea herbicide-based mixtures can control both the R and S biotypes of C difformis, except sulfonylurea plus dimepiperate, molinate or pyriftalid, and pyrazolate plus butachlor. Although mixtures of sulfonylurea herbicides might be more effective, they should be avoided and used only in special cases. In terms of in vitro ALS activity, the R biotype was 1139-, 3583-, 1482-, 416-, 5- and 9-fold more resistant to bensulfuron-methyl, cyclosulfamuron, imazosulfuron, pyrazosulfuron-ethyl, bispyribac-sodium and imazapyr, respectively, than the S biotype. The in vivo ALS activity of the R biotype was also less affected by the sulfonylurea herbicides, imazosulfuron and pyrazosulfuron-ethyl, than the S biotype. Results of in vitro and in vivo ALS assays indicated that the resistance mechanism of C difformis to ALS inhibitor herbicides was primarily due to an alteration in the target enzyme, ALS. Greenhouse experiments showed delayed flowering and reduced seed production of the R biotype, which could possibly result in reduced fitness. This unusual observation needs to be confirmed in field situations.

Either soluble or plastidic expression of recombinant protoporphyrinogen oxidase modulates tetrapyrrole biosynthesis and photosynthetic efficiency in transgenic rice.

Protoporphyrinogen oxidase (Protox) is the last shared enzyme of the porphyrin pathway. As a continuation of our previous work in which the transgenic rice plants expressing the Bacillus subtilis Protox in the cytoplasm or the plastid showed resistance to diphenyl ether herbicide, this study was undertaken to identify the effects of tertapyrrole biosynthesis in these transgenic rice plants. The transgenic plants either targeted into plastids or expressed in cytoplasm showed higher Protox activity than wild-type plants did. Photosynthetic activity, measured as a quantum yield of photosystem II, was slightly higher in transgenic plants than in wild-type plants, but chlorophyll contents were not significantly different between transgenic and wild-type plants. As for porphyrin biosynthesis, both cytoplasm-expressed and plastid-targeted transgenic plants showed increased synthesis of aminolevulinic acid, Mg-Proto IX, and protoheme in comparison to wild-type plants whereas synthesis of protoporphyrin IX was similar for wild-type and transgenic plants. These results indicate that either cytoplasm or plastid expression of B. subtilis Protox in rice can upregulate the porphyrin pathway leading to increase in photosynthetic efficiency in plants.

A point mutation of valine-311 to methionine in Bacillus subtilis protoporphyrinogen oxidase does not greatly increase resistance to the diphenyl ether herbicide oxyfluorfen.

In an effort to asses the effect of Val311Met point mutation of Bacillus subtilis protoporphyrinogen oxidase on the resistance to diphenyl ether herbicides, a Val311Met point mutant of B. subtilis protoporphyrinogen oxidase was prepared, heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli, and the purified recombinant Val311Met mutant protoporphyrinogen oxidase was kinetically characterized. The mutant protoporphyrinogen oxidase showed very similar kinetic patterns to wild type protoporphyrinogen oxidase, with slightly decreased activity dependent on pH and the concentrations of NaCl, Tween 20, and imidazole. When oxyfluorfen was used as a competitive inhibitor, the Val311Met mutant protoporphyrinogen oxidase showed an increased inhibition constant about 1.5 times that of wild type protoporphyrinogen oxidase. The marginal increase of the inhibition constant indicates that the Val311Met point mutation in B. subtilis protoporphyrinogen oxidase may not be an important determinant in the mechanism that protects protoporphyrinogen oxidase against diphenyl ether herbicides.