Engineering Resistance to Herbicides

Crop resistance can be generated through a selection process or the introduction of a gene via transformation. We will refer to the latter as engineered herbicide resistance. The literature contains numerous studies on engineered plant resistance to various herbicide classes. There is a large distinction between demonstrating a resistance phenotype in plants versus developing a commercial resistant crop that requires consistent performance under varying environmental conditions. Creating an herbicide resistant crop must successfully navigate a maze of key technical issues while satisfying the practical product goals of agronomic equivalence, weed management, economic feasibility, governmental regulatory compliance and public acceptance. Most of our experience has been derived from developing crop resistance to glyphosate. In this review, we will utilise these experiences to describe the essential studies required for the development of a commercial herbicide-resistant crop with emphasis on the development of glyphosate resistance. Keywords: commercialised; experimental; herbicide-resistance strategy