Dominant mutations causing alterations in acetyl-coenzyme A carboxylase confer tolerance to cyclohexanedione and aryloxyphenoxypropionate herbicides in maize

A partially dominant mutation exhibiting increased tolerance to cyclohexanedione and aryloxyphenoxypropionate herbicides was isolated by exposing susceptible maize (Zea mays) tissue cultures to increasingly inhibitory concentrations of sethoxydim (a cyclohexanedione). The selected tissue culture (S2) was >40-fold more tolerant to sethoxydim and 20-fold more tolerant to haloxyfop (an aryloxyphenoxypropionate) than the nonselected wild-type tissue culture. Regenerated S2 plants were heterozygous for the mutant allele and exhibited a high-level, but not complete, tolerance to both herbicides. Homozygous mutant families derived by self-pollinating the regenerated S2 plants exhibited no injury after treatment with 0.8 kg of sethoxydim per ha, which was >16-fold the rate lethal to wild-type plants. Acetyl-coenzyme A carboxylase (ACCase; EC 6.4.1.2) is the target enzyme of cyclohexanedione and aryloxyphenoxypropionate herbicides. ACCase activities of the nonselected wild-type and homozygous mutant seedlings were similar in the absence of herbicide. ACCase activity from homozygous tolerant plants required >100-fold more sethoxydim and 16-fold more haloxyfop for 50% inhibition than ACCase from wild-type plants. These results indicate that tolerance to sethoxydim and haloxyfop is controlled by a partially dominant nuclear mutation encoding a herbicide-insensitive alteration in maize ACCase.