How do herbicide resistant plants survive exposure to herbicides?
The precise molecular mechanism of resistance varies with different plants, but, in general, plants resist herbicides in one of three ways: deactivating the herbicide by chemically altering it; changing the structure of the target site of the herbicide so that the plant is no longer sensitive; avoiding the herbicide by not absorbing it or, if absorbed, by compartmentalizing it away from its target site. These three basic mechanisms of resistance can also be enhanced with other changes. For example, decreasing plant sensitivity by providing it with a new gene that encodes an insensitive form of the target site does not eliminate the plant’s fully functional target site. Providing the plant with many copies of the new gene, however, increases the proportion of insensitive target sites to the plant’s sensitive target sites. Therefore this increases the probability the herbicide will encounter a target that it cannot affect and normal plant function will be maintained.
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