Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

HERBICIDE RESISTANCE

Raising the BAR of specificity

Subjects

Phosphinothricin resistance is a widely used trait in plant science research and agriculture. The BAR resistance gene that inactivates phosphinothricin has now been shown to produce two non-specific metabolites in planta. An engineered BAR resistance gene with no detectable off-target activity is developed to address this issue.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Activity of BAR and engineered BAR enzyme.

References

  1. Hoerlein, G. Rev. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 138, 73–145 (1994).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Malcolm D. & Preston, C. in Herbicides and The ir Mechanisms of Action (eds Cobb, A. H. & Kirkwood, R. C.) 72–104 (CRC, Sheffield, 2000).

  3. Botterman, J. & Leemans, J. Prospects for Amino Acid Biosynthesis Inhibitors in Crop Protection and Pharmaceutical Chemistry 63–68 (Monograph 42, BCPC, 1989).

  4. Christ, B. et al. Nat. Plants http://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-017-0061-1 (2017).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sarah E. O’Connor.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

O’Connor, S.E. Raising the BAR of specificity. Nature Plants 3, 924–925 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-017-0074-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-017-0074-9

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing