Glyphosate-N-acetyltransferase (GAT) genes

A method for selecting a plant or plant cell containing a nucleic acid construct, comprising:

• (a) providing a transgenic plant or plant cell containing a nucleic acid construct, wherein the nucleic acid construct comprises a nucleotide sequence encoding an amino acid sequence that can be optimally aligned with the sequence of SEQ ID NO:
• 445 to generate a similarity score of at least 650, using the BLOSUM62 matrix, a gap existence penalty of 11, and a gap extension penalty of 1, wherein said polynucleotide encodes a polypeptide having glyphosate N-acetyl transferase activity;
• and,
• (b) growing the transgenic plant or plant cell in the presence of glyphosate under conditions where the glyphosate-N-acetyltransferase is expressed at an effective level, whereby the transgenic plant or plant cell grows at a rate that is discernibly greater than the plant or plant cell would grow if it did not contain the nucleic acid construct.

A method for selectively controlling weeds in a field containing a crop comprising:

• (a) planting a field with crop seeds or plants which are glyphosate-tolerant as a result of being transformed with a heterologous polynucleotide comprising a nucleotide sequence encoding an amino acid sequence that can be optimally aligned with the sequence of SEQ ID NO:
• 445 to generate a similarity score of at least 650, using the BLOSUM62 matrix, a gap existence penalty of 11, and a gap extension penalty of 1, wherein said polynucleotide encodes a polypeptide having glyphosate N-acetyl transferase activity;
• and,
• (b) applying to the crop and weeds in the field a sufficient amount of glyphosate to control the weeds without significantly affecting the crop.

A method for producing a crop comprising:

• (a) growing a crop plant that is glyphosate-tolerant as a result of being transformed with a heterologous polynucleotide comprising a nucleotide sequence encoding an amino acid sequence that can be optimally aligned with the sequence of SEQ ID NO:
• 445 to generate a similarity score of at least 650, using the BLOSUM62 matrix, a gap existence penalty of 11, and a gap extension penalty of 1, wherein said polynucleotide encodes a polypeptide having glyphosate N-acetyl transferase activity, under conditions such that the crop plant produces a crop;
• and
• (b) harvesting a crop from the crop plant.