Herbicide-tolerant plants and methods of controlling the growth of undesired vegetation
AssigneeNovartis Finance Corporation
InventorsSandra L. Volrath, Marie A. Johnson, Eric R. Ward, Peter B. Heifetz
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Abstract
The present invention relates to methods for controlling the growth of undesired vegetation comprising applying an effective amount of a protox-inhibiting herbicide to a population of transgenic plants or plant seed transformed with a DNA sequence coding for a modified protox enzyme that is tolerant to a protox-inhibiting herbicide or to the locus where a population of the transgenic plants or plant seeds is cultivated.
Claims52
A method for controlling the growth of undesired vegetation comprising applying an effective amount of a protox-inhibiting herbicide to a population of transgenic plants or plant seeds or to the locus where a population of transgenic plants or plant seeds is cultivated, wherein each transgenic plant or plant seed comprises a modified plant DNA molecule that encodes a modified enzyme having protoporphyrinogen oxidase (protox) activity, wherein said modified enzyme comprises at least one amino acid substitution relative to the corresponding wild-type enzyme, wherein said DNA molecule is expressed in said transgenic plant or plant seed and confers tolerance thereupon to the protox-inhibiting herbicide.
A method for selectively suppressing the growth of weeds in a field containing planted crops or crop seeds, comprising the steps of:
- (a) planting transgenic herbicide tolerant crops or crop seeds in a field, wherein each transgenic crop or crop seed comprises a modified plant DNA molecule that encodes a modified enzyme having protoporphyrinogen oxidase (protox) activity, wherein said modified enzyme comprises at least one amino acid substitution relative to the corresponding wild-type enzyme, wherein said DNA molecule is expressed in said transgenic crop or crop seed and confers tolerance thereupon to an inhibitor of wild-type protox activity;
- and
- (b) applying to the crops or crop seeds and the weeds in the field or to the locus where the crops or crop seeds are cultivated a protox-inhibiting herbicide in amounts that inhibit naturally occurring protox activity, wherein the herbicide suppresses the growth of the weeds without suppressing the growth of the transgenic crops or crop seeds.
A method for controlling the growth of undesired vegetation comprising applying an effective amount of a protox-inhibiting herbicide to the locus where a population of transgenic plants or plant seeds is cultivated, wherein each transgenic plant or plant seed comprises a modified plant DNA molecule that encodes a modified enzyme having protoporphyrinogen oxidase (protox) activity, wherein said modified enzyme comprises at least one amino acid substitution relative to the corresponding wild-type enzyme, wherein said DNA molecule is expressed in said transgenic plant or plant seed and confers tolerance thereupon to the protox-inhibiting herbicide.
A method for selectively suppressing the growth of weeds in a field containing planted crops or crop seeds, comprising the steps of:
- (a) planting transgenic herbicide tolerant crops or crop seeds, wherein each transgenic crop or crop seed comprises a modified plant DNA molecule that encodes a modified enzyme having protoporphyrinogen oxidase (protox) activity, wherein said modified enzyme comprises at least one amino acid substitution relative to the corresponding wild-type enzyme, wherein said DNA molecule is expressed in said transgenic crop or crop seed and confers tolerance thereupon to an inhibitor of wild-type protox activity;
- and
- (b) applying to the locus where the crops or crop seeds are cultivated a protox-inhibiting herbicide in amounts that inhibit naturally occurring protox activity, wherein the herbicide suppresses the growth of the weeds without suppressing the growth of the transgenic crops or crop seeds.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.