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This is exactly what's happening with Palmer amaranth and its interspecific relatives with the EPSPS gene which confers resistance to glyphosate.
by algoatecorn 4y ago
This is exactly what's happening with Palmer amaranth and its interspecific relatives with the EPSPS gene which confers resistance to glyphosate.
- pcrh 4y agoI looked that up. It appears that glyphosphate resistance in Palmer amaranth and some other species is due to duplication of their own EPSPS genes, not horizontal transfer from genetically engineered crops. _Glyphosate Resistance and EPSPS Gene Duplication: Convergent Evolution in Multiple Plant Species_ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29040588/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29040588/ It's a "natural" response to the high usage of glyphosphate, similar to the emergence of antibiotic resistance in bacteria as a response to antibiotic drugs.
- algoatecorn 4y agoYou'll see that the first sentence says "one of the mechansisms". There are others, including a heritable eccDNA replicon which can possess over 50copies of the gene; its function is not yet fully understood, but there is evidence of this mechanism being transferred via hybridization. Besides, the mechanisms of HGT are "natural", and genome engineering is not a requirement. What I'm referring to is an increased resistance in palmer amaranth which is subsequently bestowed upon other amaranth species Glad you found it interesting enough to read about though. It's fun to see my colleagues' work being referenced