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Dinitroaniline herbicide-resistant transgenic tobacco plants generated by co-overexpression of a mutant α-tubulin and a β-tubulin

Nature Biotechnology volume 17, pages 712–716 (1999)Cite this article

Abstract

Dinitroaniline herbicides are used for the selective control of weeds in arable crops. Dinitroaniline herbicide resistance in the invasive weed goosegrass was previously shown to stem from a spontaneous mutation in an α-tubulin gene. We transformed and regenerated tobacco plants with an α/β-tubulin double gene construct containing the mutant α-tubulin gene and showed that expression of this construct confers a stably inherited dinitroaniline-resistant phenotype in tobacco. In all transformed lines, the transgene α- and β-tubulins increased the cytoplasmic pool of tubulin approximately 1.5-fold while repressing endogenous α- and β-tubulin synthesis by up to 45% in some tissues. Transgene α- and β-tubulin were overexpressed in every plant tissue analyzed and comprised approximately 66% of the total tubulin in these tissues. Immunolocalization studies revealed that transgene α- and β-tubulins were incorporated into all four microtubule arrays, indicating that they are functional. The majority of the α/β- tubulin pools are encoded by the transgenes, which implies that the mutant α-tubulin and the β-tubulin can perform the majority, if not all, of the roles of microtubules in both juvenile and adult tobacco plants.

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Figure 1: Phenotype of transgenic tobacco.
Figure 2: Dinitroaniline herbicide–resistant transgenic tobacco.
Figure 3: Effect of increasing concentrations of herbicide on seedling growth.
Figure 4: Expression of transgenic α-tubulin and effects on endogenous α-tubulin synthesis.
Figure 5: Immunolocalization of the transgenic α-tubulin.
Figure 6: Construction of plasmid vectors for tobacco transformation.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the Biotechnological and Biological Sciences Research Council. We would like to thank J. Payne (Zeneca Agrochemicals) for assistance with the tobacco transformation technique.

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  1. School of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, TW20 OEX, Surrey, UK

    Richard G. Anthony, Stefanie Reichelt & Patrick J. Hussey

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  1. Richard G. Anthony
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  2. Stefanie Reichelt
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Correspondence to Patrick J. Hussey.

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Anthony, R., Reichelt, S. & Hussey, P. Dinitroaniline herbicide-resistant transgenic tobacco plants generated by co-overexpression of a mutant α-tubulin and a β-tubulin. Nat Biotechnol 17, 712–716 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/10931

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