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Abstract

Disclosed are novel DNA sequences isolated from soybean, wheat, cotton, sugar beet, rape, rice, sorghum, and sugar cane encode enzymes having protoporphyrinogen oxidase (protox) activity. In addition, modified, herbicide-tolerant forms of protox enzymes are disclosed. Plants expressing herbicide-tolerant protox enzymes taught herein are also provided. These plants may be engineered for resistance to protox inhibitors via mutation of the native protox gene to a resistant form or they may be transformed with a gene encoding an inhibitor-resistant from of a plant protox enzyme. Further disclosed is a method of achieving herbicide tolerance through plastid transformation, which involves transforming plastids with a chimeric gene that comprises a plastid-active promoter operatively linked to a DNA molecule that encodes a plastid-targeted enzyme whose native plastid transit peptide is either mutated so as to be nonfunctional or is absent altogether. The encoded enzyme may be for example a herbicide-tolerant protox enzyme, whereby the resulting transplastomic plants are resistant to protox inhibitors.

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First Claim