Multiple resistance to PPO and ALS inhibitors in redroot pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexus)

Abstract A redroot pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexus L.) population (HN-02) collected from Nenjiang County, Heilongjiang Province, exhibited multiple resistance to fomesafen and nicosulfuron. The purposes of this study were to characterize the herbicide resistance status of an HN-02 population for both acetolactate synthase (ALS) and protoporphyrinogen oxidase (PPO) inhibitors and the response to other herbicides and to investigate the target site-based mechanism governing fomesafen and nicosulfuron resistance. Three mutations, Ala-205-Val and Trp-574-Leu mutations in the ALS gene and an Arg-128-Gly mutation in the PPX2 gene, were identified in individual resistant plants. An HN-02F1-1 subpopulation homozygous for the Ala-205-Val and Arg-128-Gly mutations was generated, and whole-plant experiments confirmed multiple resistance to PPO inhibitors (fomesafen, fluoroglycofen-ethyl, and acifluorfen) and ALS inhibitors (imidazolinones [IMI], sulfonylureas [SU], and triazolopyrimidines [TP]) in the HN-02F1-1 plants, which presented resistance index values ranging from 8.3 to 110; however, these plants were sensitive to flumioxazin, fluroxypyr-meptyl, and 2,4-D butylate. In vitro ALS enzyme activity assays revealed that, compared with ALS from susceptible plants, ALS from the HN-02F1-1 plants was 15-, 28- and 320-fold resistant to flumetsulam, nicosulfuron, and imazethapyr, respectively. This study confirms the first case of multiple resistance to PPO and ALS inhibitors in A. retroflexus and determines that the target-site resistance mechanism was produced by Ala-205-Val and Arg-128-Gly mutations in the ALS gene and PPX2 gene, respectively. In particular, the Ala-205-Val mutation was found to endow resistance to three classes of ALS inhibitors: TP, SU, and IMI.