Login / Signup

An artificially evolved gene for herbicide-resistant rice breeding.

Jin DongXin-He YuJiangqing DongGao-Hua WangXin-Long WangDa-Wei WangYao-Chao YanHan XiaoBao-Qin YeHong-Yan LinGuang-Fu Yang
Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (2024)
Discovering and engineering herbicide-resistant genes is a crucial challenge in crop breeding. This study focuses on the 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase Inhibitor Sensitive 1-Like (HSL) protein, prevalent in higher plants and exhibiting weak catalytic activity against many β-triketone herbicides (β-THs). The crystal structures of maize HSL1A complexed with β-THs were elucidated, identifying four essential herbicide-binding residues and explaining the weak activity of HSL1A against the herbicides. Utilizing an artificial evolution approach, we developed a series of rice HSL1 mutants targeting the four residues. Then, these mutants were systematically evaluated, identifying the M10 variant as the most effective in modifying β-THs. The initial active conformation of substrate binding in HSL1 was also revealed from these mutants. Furthermore, overexpression of M10 in rice significantly enhanced resistance to β-THs, resulting in a notable 32-fold increase in resistance to methyl-benquitrione. In conclusion, the artificially evolved M10 gene shows great potential for the development of herbicide-resistant crops.
Keyphrases