Australia
July 24, 2013

If you ever find yourself in the situation where you are catering for a group of people, and you are wondering how much food to prepare, the best thing to do is to prepare a little extra, just in case. The last thing that you want to do is run out. 

Believe it or not, this is how some weeds resist glyphosate. They make an extra-large batch of the enzyme that glyphosate binds to, just in case. This way, if the weed is sprayed with glyphosate that inhibits some of the enzyme, there is still enough left for the plant to function and survive. This mechanism is known as ‘Gene Amplification’ and was discovered by Dr Todd Gaines along with a large team of scientists from around the world.

There are currently six known mechanisms of glyphosate resistance and several more are suspected. We will feature more about the others in future editions of AHRIinsight. For a brief summary of the other mechanisms and more about gene amplification, click here.

Website: http://www.ahri.uwa.edu.au/

Published: July 24, 2013