The use of cytochrome P450 genes to introduce herbicide tolerance in crops: a review

✍ Scribed by Ohkawa, Hideo; Tsujii, Hisae; Ohkawa, Yasunobu

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 123 KB
• Volume: 55
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1526-498X
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1096-9063(199909)55:9<867::aid-ps31>3.0.co;2-s

✦ Synopsis

Mechanisms of herbicide resistance include (1) modi®ed target site, (2) enhanced detoxi-®cation or delayed activation, and (3) alterations in the uptake, translocation, or compartmentalization of a herbicide. The ®rst two mechanisms have mainly been identi®ed in plants. Herbicide resistance genes were isolated for several herbicides of different modes of action. Genes that coded for herbicide target or detoxi®cation enzymes were transferred into crop plants. The transgenic plants expressing these genes were tolerant of the active ingredients of herbicides.

Before commercialization, the transgenic plants were tested in the ®eld for risk assessment. In the case of crops with herbicide detoxi®cation enzymes, including cytochrome-P450-species-metabolizing xenobiotics, the substrate speci®city of the enzymes as well as the toxicological properties of the herbicide metabolites and the pattern of secondary metabolites in plants must be evaluated.