Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
September 7, 2007
Source: New
South Wales Department of Primary Industries
A new molecular tool developedby
Australian and Japanese researchers is expected to help farmers
address what has become one of the major threats to conventional
agricultural practices - herbicide resistance.
More than 305 types of weed in more than 50 countries have been
reported to be resistant to at least one herbicide, and an
increasing number of weeds owe their success to their genetic
diversity.
Scientists say techniques are needed to detect mutations when
they first occur, so farmers can test for herbicide resistance
in the field and manage weeds accordingly.
NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) molecular biologist,
Dr Mui-Keng Tan,
together with a team of researchers from Japan, investigated a
technique called ecotilling and found it offers a quick, cheap
and reliable means of detecting early signs of herbicide
resistance in weeds.
Unlike the traditional molecular approach, eco-tilling uses
reverse genetics. Genes are not fully sequenced; instead,
mutations in single molecules that make up genes are identified
purely on the basis of their position in the genome.
Dr Tan said new mutations can be detected and known ones can be
screened for a fraction of the cost of alternative genetic
methods.
This makes it a powerful, low cost and high throughput
alternative to full sequencing.
Dr Tan has been investigating the technique with Dr Guang-Xi
Wang from Kyoto University, who was funded by the Grains
Research and Development Corporation to collaborate with Dr Tan
at DPI’s Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute at Camden.
She says the use of the eco-tilling technique to test for
resistance could help farmers to manage herbicide use in crop
rotations more economically and effectively.
Dr Tan’s research has focused on herbicide resistance in two oft
he most significant weeds affecting Australian cropping systems
-wild oats and rye grass - and to together with Dr Wang she also
examined weeds in rice fields inJapan.
Dr Tan said the every weed-herbicide system is specific.
"The ecotilling technique can beapplied on any particular
system, pending availability of molecular data on the target
genes of theherbicides," she said.
An article on the research in Japan was published recently in
the international journal Pesticide Biochemistry and Physiology.
by Joanne Finlay |
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