Fitness costs associated with evolved herbicide resistance alleles in plants

Predictions based on evolutionary theory suggest that the adaptive value of evolved herbicide resistance alleles may be compromised by the existence of fitness costs. There have been many studies quantifying the fitness costs associated with novel herbicide resistance alleles, reflecting the importance of fitness costs in determining the evolutionary dynamics of resistance. However, many of these studies have incorrectly defined resistance or used inappropriate plant material and methods to measure fitness. This review has two major objectives. First, to propose a methodological framework that establishes experimental criteria to unequivocally evaluate fitness costs. Second, to present a comprehensive analysis of the literature on fitness costs associated with herbicide resistance alleles. This analysis reveals unquestionable evidence that some herbicide resistance alleles are associated with pleiotropic effects that result in plant fitness costs. Observed costs are evident from herbicide resistance-endowing amino acid substitutions in proteins involved in amino acid, fatty acid, auxin and cellulose biosynthesis, as well as enzymes involved in herbicide metabolism. However, these resistance fitness costs are not universal and their expression depends on particular plant alleles and mutations. The findings of this review are discussed within the context of the plant defence trade-off theory and herbicide resistance evolution

Registration of N614, A3N615, N616, and N617 Shattercane Genetic Stocks with Cytoplasmic or Nuclear Male Sterility and Juicy or Dry Midribs

Four shattercane [Sorghum bicolor subsp. drummondii (Nees ex Steud.) de Wet ex Davidse] genetic stocks—N614 (Reg. No. GS-652, PI 665684), A3N615 (Reg. No. GS-651, PI 665683), N616 (Reg. No. GS-653, PI 665685), and N617 (Reg. No. GS-654, PI 665686)—with A3 cytoplasmic male sterility or the nuclear male sterility gene ms3 containing either juicy (dd) or dry (DD) culms were developed jointly by the USDA-ARS; the Iowa Agricultural and Home Economics Experiment Station, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Iowa State University; and the Agricultural Research Division, Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Nebraska. The stocks were released in July 2011. The source material for these genetic stocks was isolated from an archetypical shattercane population found near Lincoln, NE. Release of these genetic stocks makes available shattercane lines with both A3 cytoplasmic male sterility, and ms3 genetic (nuclear) male sterility to facilitate crossing. These genetic stocks also contain juicy (dd) or dry (DD) culms, a visible genetic marker to facilitate screening progeny resulting from crosses. The genetic stocks have immediate application for basic research involving gene flow from cultivated sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] to shattercane and on the fitness of offspring resulting from such crosses

Quantifying the entropic cost of cellular growth control

We quantify the amount of regulation required to control growth in living cells by a Maximum Entropy approach to the space of underlying metabolic states described by genome-scale models. Results obtained for E. coli and human cells are consistent with experiments and point to different regulatory strategies by which growth can be fostered or repressed. Moreover we explicitly connect the `inverse temperature' that controls MaxEnt distributions to the growth dynamics, showing that the initial size of a colony may be crucial in determining how an exponentially growing population organizes the phenotypic space.Comment: 3 page

A genomic view of food-related and probiotic Enterococcus strains

The study of enterococcal genomes has grown considerably in recent years. While special attentionis paid to comparative genomic analysis among clinical relevant isolates, in this study we performedan exhaustive comparative analysis of enterococcal genomes of food origin and/or with potential tobe used as probiotics. Beyond common genetic features, we especially aimed to identify those thatare specific to enterococcal strains isolated from a certain food-related source as well as features presentin a species-specific manner. Thus, the genome sequences of 25 Enterococcus strains, from 7different species, were examined and compared. Their phylogenetic relationship was reconstructedbased on orthologous proteins and whole genomes. Likewise, markers associated with a successfulcolonization (bacteriocin genes and genomic islands) and genome plasticity (phages and clusteredregularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) were investigated for lifestyle specific genetic features.At the same time, a search for antibiotic resistance genes was carried out, since they are of bigconcern in the food industry. Finally, it was possible to locate 1617 FIGfam families as a core proteomeuniversally present among the genera and to determine that most of the accessory genes codefor hypothetical proteins, providing reasonable hints to support their functional characterization.Fil: Bonacina, Julieta. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucuman. Centro de Referencia Para Lactobacilos; ArgentinaFil: Suárez, Nadia Elina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucuman. Centro de Referencia Para Lactobacilos; ArgentinaFil: Hormigo, Daniel Ricardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucuman. Centro de Referencia Para Lactobacilos; ArgentinaFil: Fadda, Silvina G.. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucuman. Centro de Referencia Para Lactobacilos; ArgentinaFil: Lechner, Marcus. University Marburg; AlemaniaFil: Saavedra, Maria Lucila. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucuman. Centro de Referencia Para Lactobacilos; Argentin

Identification of a herbicide-resistant biotype of Echinochloa crus-galli in Ukraine

Ukraine is one of the world’s guarantors of food security and has the potential to further increase agricultural production. However, the vast majority of herbicides used on crops are acetolactate synthase (ALS) inhibitors, which poses a threat of herbicide-resistant weed species. The emergence and spread of herbicide-resistant weed biotypes can significantly increase the cost of growing crops to the point of loss of profitability. Herbicide resistance in barnyardgrass (Echinochloa crus-galli var. crus-galli) has been studied in long-term field and greenhouse experiments. Resistance of E. crus-galli to the ALS herbicide triazolopyrimidine derivative ‒ penoxsulam was identified. Expressed resistance was observed in weed plants grown from seeds collected under production conditions in Kherson region in 2015–2016 and 2020–2021. Cross resistance was observed for imidazolinone and sulfonylurea derivatives. It should be noted that the level of cross resistance to ALS herbicides was slightly higher for plants derived from weed seeds harvested in 2020–2021 compared to those harvested in 2015–2016. The introduction of a herbicidal composition of a herbicide mixture ‒ an inhibitor of 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (HPPD) (an enzyme in plants in the chain of carotenoid synthesis) ‒ mesotrione with an ALS-inhibitor (nicosulfuron) allowed effective control of the weed, which indicates the absence of multiple resistance to herbicides ‒ inhibitors of carotenoid synthesis. The high efficiency of E. crus-galli control was established by the application of herbicides ‒ inhibitors of fatty acid synthesis (graminicides). The highest level of efficiency in the experiments was observed with the application of fluazifop-butyl and somewhat less ‒ with pinoxaden. A tendency to reduce phytotoxicity to barnyardgrass from the south of Ukraine was observed with the introduction of tepraloxydim and quizalofop-ethyl. A lower level of phytotoxicity of fenoxaprop-p-ethyl on E. crus-galli should be noted compared to the effect of pinoxaden. No multiple resistance was observed with glyphosate (5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase inhibitor) and reglone (photosystem I inhibitor), allowing control of vegetative weeds at the beginning and end of the growing season. It has been established that monocot weed species have significantly increased their presence and harmfulness in agrophytocenoses in Ukraine and in the world since the 1950s with the widespread introduction of selective dicotyledonous species control with aryloxyphenoxyacetic, propionic and benzoic acid derivatives. This trend has been maintained until recently ‒ barnyardgrass is one of the dominant weed species in modern agrophytocenoses of Ukraine. Therefore, the identification of the ALS-resistant biotype of barnyardgrass complicates weed control in the following crops in rotations in the southern regions of the country: in maize crops with cross resistance to nicosulfuron, in sunflower ‒ to imidazolinones (imazamox, imazapyr), and also makes it impossible to use penoxsulam in rice production. Traditionally, the use of synthetic auxins, phenoxyacetic acid derivatives, etc. is used to control ALS-resistance. However, in Kherson region of Ukraine, already in the third year of application of rinskor (florpyrauxifen-benzyl), some weed plants were found on rice fields affected by ALS-resistant barnyardgrass, which recovered after the use of synthetic auxin. Therefore, the control of ALS-resistance (penoxsulam, etc.) in E. crus-galli with the application florpyrauxifen-benzyl in the Kherson region of Ukraine is already limited. An obvious and economically feasible preventive measure against the emergence of resistant weed biotypes is the implementation of GAP (Good Agricultural Practice, FAO) approaches: in particular, the use of high quality seeds without weed impurities, increasing the proportion of agrotechnical weed control measures, restoring and expanding crop rotations with mandatory rotation of herbicides with different modes of action, introducing dicotyledonous/leguminous crops into rotations, and using herbicides with different modes of action in crops separately or in mixtures. At the same time, agrotechnical measures and the preservation of biodiversity in agrophytocenoses should be the main factor in controlling resistance in weeds. The use of herbicides and their mixtures with different modes of action is of secondary importance. The identification of highly damaging ALS-resistant E. crus-galli in southern Ukraine indicates the insufficient effectiveness of weed control exclusively with herbicides with a single mechanism of action and requires a significant revision of the principles of crop rotation and ways of weed control in the country to maintain high levels of profitability and productivity of agrophytocenoses. Solving this problem is urgent for the preservation of Ukraine's potential as one of the guarantors of global food security