Differences in the molecular basis of resistance to the cyclohexanedione herbicide sethoxydim in Lolium multiflorum

Resistance to the cyclohexanedione (CHD) herbicide sethoxydim was investigated in two UK Lolium multiflorum populations, Yorks A2 and PYL. Resistance screening experiments demonstrated a qualitative difference in the responses of the two populations to sethoxydim, suggesting that the molecular basis of resistance between them was different. After treatment, Yorks A2 plants were either alive (78% of sample tested) or dead (22% tested) but plants of the PYL population showed two further intermediate categories of response. The level of acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACCase) insensitivity directly correlated with the degree of resistance at the whole plant level, indicating that the molecular basis of resistance is associated with differences in ACCase sensitivity in each population. Direct sequencing of the carboxyl transferase domain of the ACCase gene showed that an Ile-418-Leu substitution in the L. multiflorum chloroplastic ACCase (GenBank accession number AY710293) confers resistance to sethoxydim in Yorks A2. This corresponds to amino acid residue 1781 in the Alopecurus myosuroides full ACCase sequence. This is the first report of this mutation in this L. multiflorum, which has also been reported in four other grass-weeds, including L. rigidum. However, no amino acid substitutions were found to be specifically associated with the resistant phenotypes in the PYL population and the molecular basis of resistance in this population remains to be resolved.