EXPRESSION OF A BACTERIAL GENE IN TRANSGENIC PLANTS CONFERS RESISTANCE TO THE HERBICIDE PHENMEDIPHAM

Tobacco plants were genetically engineered to express a detoxifying pathway for the herbicide phenmedipham. A gene from Arthrobacter oxidans strain P52 that encodes an enzyme catalysing the hydrolytic cleavage of the carbamate compound phenmedipham has recently been cloned and sequenced. The coding sequence was fused with a cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter and introduced into tobacco plants by Agrobacterium-mediated gene transfer. Transgenic plants expressing high levels of phenmedipham hydrolase exhibited resistance when sprayed with the herbicide at up to ten times the usual field application rate.