Question

Give a brief account of herbicide resistance in transgenic plants.

Answer 1

Transgenic plants are genetically modified plant species formed by introducing foreign DNA into plant cells. Agrobacterium is a bacterium have a plasmid which is mainly involved in this method as a vector. In order to protect the crops against exposure to herbicides, scientists after intensive research isolated a gene from Streptomyces hygroscopicus which encodes for an enzyme which is capable of inactivating the herbicide 'basta'. Transgenic plants with this gene have been developed, demonstrating the effectiveness of this gene for protection against herbicide basta. Thus, herbicide-tolerant crop plants have now been developed by genetically manipulating plant genomes resistant to specific herbicides.