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Updated: Jul 18, 2026

Protocols for Robust Herbicide Resistance Testing in Different Weed Species
Published on: July 2, 2015
Immunomodulation confers herbicide resistance in plants
Kurt C Almquist1, Yongqing Niu, Michael D McLean
1Department of Environmental Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, N1G 2W1, Canada.
Abstract:
In order to create a novel mechanism for herbicide resistance in plants, we expressed a single-chain antibody fragment (scFv) in tobacco with specific affinity to the auxinic herbicide picloram. Transgenic tobacco plants and seedlings expressing this scFv against picloram were protected from its effect in a dose-dependent manner. This is the first successful use of an antibody to confer in vivo resistance to a low molecular weight xenobiotic (i.e. < 1000 Da). Our results suggest the possibility for a generic antibody-based approach to create crops resistant to low molecular weight xenobiotics for subsequent use in the bioremediation of contaminated soils, crop protection and as novel selectable markers.
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