Genetic engineering of maize (Zea mays) for high-level tolerance to treatment with the herbicide dicamba

Herbicide-tolerant crops have been widely and rapidly adopted by farmers in several countries due to enhanced weed control, lower labor and production costs, increased environmental benefits, and gains in profitability. Soon to be introduced transgenic soybean and cotton varieties tolerant to treatments with the herbicide dicamba offer prospects for excellent broadleaf weed control in these broadleaf crops. Because monocots such as maize (Zea mays) can be treated with dicamba only during a limited window of crop development and because crop injury is sometimes observed when conditions are unfavorable, transgenic maize plants have been produced and tested for higher levels of tolerance to treatment with dicamba. Maize plants expressing the gene encoding dicamba monooxygenase (DMO) linked with an upstream chloroplast transit peptide (CTP) display greatly enhanced tolerance to dicamba applied either pre-emergence or postemergence. Comparisons of DMO coupled to CTPs derived from the Rubisco small subunit from either Arabidopsis thaliana or Z. mays showed that both allowed production of transgenic maize plants tolerant to treatment with levels of dicamba (i.e., 27 kg/ha) greatly exceeding the highest recommended rate of 0.56 kg/ha.