Seed samples
Seeds from a Lolium multiflorum population (HGR) that has survived a clodinafop-propargyl application were collected in 2014 from a wheat field in Lafitte-Vigordane, Haute-Garone, France (Fig. 3). A standard sensitive population (RGS) was sourced from Herbiseed (Twyford, UK) and used for comparison in all experiments. Additionally, a UK Lolium multiflorum population (UKR) that is homozygous for the W2027C mutation was employed alongside wild (WW2027) and mutant (WL2027 and LL2027) HGR genotypes in the development of the dPACS 2027-ACCase assay (Fig. 3). The samples were formally identified by the corresponding and the 4th author.
The seeds used in this study were sourced with all relevant local and international permissions and in accordance with the Convention on biological diversity, the IUCN Policy Statement on Research Involving Species at Risk of Extinction and the Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
Confirmation of resistance to clodinafop-propargyl
Around 50 seeds of HGR and RGS were sown in 12-cm pots containing a mixture of peat and compost in a 1:1 ratio. The pots were watered, fertilised and kept in controlled glasshouse conditions set at 24 oC / 16 hr day, 18 oC night, 65% relative humidity, and a photon flux density of approximately 250 µmol quanta m–2 s–1. When the plants were at the two leaf stage, they were treated with 0, 30, 60 and 120 g ai ha-1 of a clodinafop-propargyl in a spray cabinet mounted with a single mobile Teejet flat fan nozzle (11002VS) calibrated to deliver 200 L ha-1 at 200 kPa. Three replicate pots were used per population. The potted plants were assessed for percentage visual damage compared to the untreated control three weeks after the clodinafop-propargyl treatment.
Analysis of ACCase for target site resistance mutations
A one-centimetre leaf fragment was collected from 96 HGR and 24 RGS untreated plants for sequencing the carboxyltransferase binding domain of ACCase. The RT-PCR and sequencing procedures were the same as described previously [31].
Production of wild WW2027 and mutant LL2027 seed batches to evaluate the importance of the W2027L mutation and non-target site resistance on ACCase-herbicide efficacy
HGR seeds were sown in a rectangular tray containing a mixture of peat and compost in a 1:1 ratio. After emergence, 600 seedlings were transplanted in individual 7.6 cm pots and genotyped as described above. Thirty-seven plants that were heterozygous for the W2027L change, but not containing any other known ACCase resistance mutations present in HGR, were separated and allowed to cross freely to produce F1 progenies (Fig. 3). The observed genotype frequencies were compared to those expected under the null hypothesis of 1:2:1 segregation ratio using a chi-square test on 2 degrees of freedom.
Three hundred and eighty-four F1 plants were produced in individual pots and segregated into three lots of homozygous wild WW2027-HGR, homozygous mutant LL2027-HGR and heterozygous WL2027-HGR plants as described above. Seventy-three homozygous wild and 80 homozygous mutant F1 individuals were transplanted in two different enclosed polytunnels and permitted to inter-breed to yield two pure homozygous WW2027-HGR and LL2027-HGR seed batches (Fig. 3). The F1 progenies were employed to investigate plant survivorship to a single recommended rate of three different ACCase herbicides. The F2 homozygous wild and mutant seed lots were used in whole plant dose response tests to determine the level of resistance conferred by the W2027L target-site mutation and NTSR to a wide range of ACCase-inhibiting herbicides.
Development of a dPACS assay for genotyping the W2027L mutation
A PCR-RFLP based derived Polymorphic Amplified Cleaved Sequence assay (dPACS) was developed for the positive identification of the wild type tryptophan and mutant leucine alleles in Lolium multiflorum plants [30].
Assay design: characteristic of the dPACS procedure, the primers encompassed the whole region to be amplified except for the three nucleotides of the 2027 codon. The primers and restriction enzymes were selected using the dPACS freeware (http://opendata.syngenta.agroknow.com/models/dpacs). Both forward and reverse primers were 55 bp in length and the diagnostic restriction enzymes were XcmI and BpuEI for the wild type tryptophan and mutant leucine alleles, respectively (Fig. 4). The forward primer (5’GCAGGCAATGATGGACTTCAACCGTGAAGGGTTACCTCTGTTCCCACTTGCTAAC3’) required three forced nucleotide changes at N-11, N-12 and N-13 (underlined) with respect to the second variable base of the 2027 codon to allow digestion with XcmI (recognition site CCANNNNNNNNNTGG) and to positively identify the wild type tryptophan allele (TGG triplet). The reverse primer (5’ ATCCAGCCTGCAGAATTCCTTCAAAAAGGTCTCTTTGCCCACCAGAGAAGCCTCT 3’) completely matched the template ACCase DNA. Restriction with BpuEI (recognition site CTTGAGNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN) enzyme only occurs in the presence of the mutant leucine allele (TTG triplet). Digestion of the wild type tryptophan allele with XcmI would result in two shorter fragments of 51 and 62 base pairs whilst restriction of the mutant leucine allele with BpuEI would generate two fragments of 37 and 76 base pairs (Fig. 4). The absence of either tryptophan or leucine allele at ACCase codon position 2027 would result in an undigested band of 113 bp.
PCR-RFLP and gel electrophoresis procedure: forty plants that were previously genotyped at codon position 2027 were used to develop the dPACS 2027 procedure. These consisted of 8 plants each of RGS (wild type WW2027) and UKR (homozygous for the W2027C mutation) as well as WW2027-HGR, WL2027-HGR and LL2027-HGR progenies. One-centimetre leaf segments from each of the 40 plants were ground on a Spex Certiprep 2000 model Geno/Grinder (Metuchen, NJ, USA). DNA from the ground material was subsequently extracted on a KingFisher™ Flex Purification platform (ThermoFisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA) using a Wizard Magnetic 96 DNA Plant System kit (Promega, Madison, WI, USA). puReTaq Ready-To-Go PCR beads (Amersham Biosciences, Chalfont St. Giles, UK) were employed to carry out polymerase chain reactions in a total volume of 25 µL containing 0.8 µM of each primer and about 50 ng of genomic DNA. The PCRs were run on an Eppendorf Master Cycle Gradient Thermocycler Model 96 programmed for an initial denaturation step at 94°C for 2 min followed by 30 cycles of 30 s at 94°C, 30 s at 60°C and 1 min at 72°C. A final extension step for 10 min at 72°C was also included.
Ten microlitres of neat PCR product was digested with a mixture of 5 units each of XcmI and BpuEI (New England Biolabs, Hertfordshire, UK) in a total volume of 30 µL according to the manufacturer’s recommendations (NEB CutSmart buffer; incubation at 37°C for 1 hour) and analysed on 4% MetaPhor™ agarose gel (Lonza, Walkersville, MD, USA) containing 0.5 µg mL− 1 ethidium bromide run for 1 hour at 70V with 1 x TBE buffer.
Co-segregation studies to assess the importance of the W2027L target site mutation and NTSR on the efficacy of three ACCase herbicides
The impact of the tryptophan to leucine mutation at ACCase codon position 2027 and NTSR in HGR was further investigated on a representative FOP, DIM and DEN herbicide, namely fluazifop-P-butyl, cycloxydim and pinoxaden, respectively. Three hundred and twelve F1 progenies originating from a cross between heterozygous WL2027-HGR plants and 96 RGS were grown to the two-leaf stage in individual 7.6 cm pots in soil containing a mixture of peat and compost in a 1:1 ratio. The pots were watered, fertilised as required and kept in controlled glasshouse conditions set at 24 oC / 16 hr day, 18 oC night, 65% relative humidity, and a photon flux density of approximately 250 µmol quanta m− 2 s− 1. Ninety-six F1 progenies and 24 RGS plants each were randomly chosen and treated with the recommended field rates of fluazifop-P-butyl (200 g ai/ha), cycloxydim (200 g ai/ha) and pinoxaden (60 g ai/ha). Twenty-four F1 progenies and 24 RGS plants were left untreated for comparison. Prior to the ACCase herbicide treatment, a 1 cm leaf tissue, each from the 312 progenies, was sampled and characterised at the 2027 ACCase codon position with the dPACS assay as described above. Survivorship to the three herbicides was assessed 21 days after treatment. Plant survival data from the co-segregation experiment were arranged as a 2x2 contingency table for each genotype comparison and analysed using Fisher’s Exact test. A p-value of less than 0.05 indicates a statistically significant result at the 5% probability level and provides evidence that the true levels of survivorship in the two treatments in question are genuinely different. The analysis was carried out using SAS software, version 9.4.
Whole plant dose-response tests to assess the level of resistance conferred by the W2027L mutation and NTSR
The pure homozygous wild WW2027 and mutant LL2027 seed batches produced in 4.3.2 were used in a whole plant dose-response experiment to determine the level of resistance conferred by the W2027L target-site mutation resistance to a wide range of ACCase herbicides. The standard sensitive population RGS was tested alongside the two former wild and mutant subpopulations to assess the degree of NTSR contained in HGR. Plants from the three populations were produced and maintained as described above. The rates for the nine different ACCase herbicides tested are provided in Table 3. The same herbicide doses were applied for all three plant groups employed in this study except for diclofop-methyl and haloxyfop-methyl whereby the lowest rate was only used on the standard sensitive RGS population and the wild type WW2027-HGR genotype whilst the highest rate was only applied on the LL2027-HGR mutant genotype. Split rates were used for diclofop-methyl and haloxyfop-methyl because of the very high levels of resistance endowed by the W2027L mutation and the good control of the standard sensitive RGS and WW2027-HGR samples at low rates of these two FOP herbicides.
Table 3
ACCase-inhibiting herbicides and rates employed in the whole plant dose-response study
Herbicide
|
Rates applied in g ai/ha
|
Clodinafop-propargyl
|
3.8, 7.5, 15, 30, 60, 120, 240, 480
|
Diclofop-methyl
|
15, 31.25, 62.5, 125, 250, 500, 1000, 2000, 4000
|
Fluazifop-P-butyl
|
7.8, 15, 31,25, 62.5, 125, 250, 500, 1000
|
Haloxyfop-methyl
|
1.5, 3.125, 6.25, 12.5, 25, 50, 100, 200, 400
|
Quizalofop-ethyl
|
0.93, 1.875, 3.75, 7.5, 15, 30, 60, 120
|
Cycloxydim
|
3.125, 6.25, 12.5, 25, 50, 100, 200, 400
|
Tepraloxydim
|
6.25, 12.5, 25, 50, 100, 200, 400, 800
|
Clethodim
|
1.9, 3.8, 7.5, 15, 30, 60, 120, 240
|
Pinoxaden
|
1.875, 3.75, 7.5, 15, 30, 60, 120, 240
|
Four replicate pots were tested for each herbicide rate. The pots were arranged in a randomised complete block design after herbicide application. Percentage visual biomass damage relative to untreated controls was assessed 21 days after treatment. The resulting percentages were analysed by straight line regression analysis of logit-transformed visual percent weed control against the logarithm of the rate applied. The logit transformation is given by Logit(P)=Ln where P denotes visual percent damage and the addition of to the numerator and denominator is required for assessments of 0% or 100%. Separate slopes were fitted to each genotype. GR50 estimates were obtained from the fitted regression lines and resistance indices were estimated as ratios of the respective GR50s. The data analysis was carried out using Syngenta’s proprietry software.