Applications of Molecular Biology in Weed Science

Abstract

Rapid strides are being made in understanding the fundamental regulation of plant growth, development, and responses to the environment due to recent advances in molecular biology. Current questions in weed science such as herbicide mechanisms of action, biodegradation, and mechanisms of weed resistance are equally approachable using such methodology. Efforts to introduce herbicide resistance into agronomically important crops are possible because of successful isolation and transfer of genes. Investigations of weed survival and competitive strategies based on developmental processes, such as seed dormancy, are currently underway using techniques designed to monitor and characterize differential gene expression. Molecular methodology also plays a key role in taxonomic studies of weed populations using restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) mapping. The future potential for these and other techniques such as nucleic acid hybridization, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), gene transfer, and the use of transgenic plants is described.