title: Flufenacet herbicide treatment phenocopies the fiddlehead mutant in Arabidopsis thaliana.
abstract: In order to study the mode of action of herbicides we conducted a pilot study analysing phenotype and gene expression of flufenacet- and benfuresate-treated Arabidopsis thaliana (L) Heynhoe plants. Treatments with either herbicide caused phenocopies of the known Arabidopsis mutant fiddlehead, displaying fused organs and the typical fiddlehead-like inflorescence. Herbicide treatments of other plant species, including monocots, also gave rise to analogous organ fusions, indicating the presence of the target in a broad range of plants. Furthermore, many other herbicides with a proposed similar mode of action, eg chloroacetanilides, produced comparable fusion phenotypes in plants. The fiddlehead gene encodes a putative very-long-chain fatty acid elongase (VLCFAE), which corroborates earlier biochemical results pointing to the inhibition of VLCFA synthesis as mode of action of flufenacet. Gene expression profiles of herbicide-treated plants using the first 8247 gene Arabidopsis gene array of Affymetrix provided additional clues in support of inhibition of VLCFA synthesis. We discuss fiddlehead-like elongases as plant specific targets for flufenacet and many other herbicides.
authors.affiliation: Bayer AG, Central Research, Department of Biotechnology, Building Q18, 51368 Leverkusen, Germany.
authors.forename: Christa
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lechelt-Kunze
authors.forename: Ruth C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Meissner
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Drewes
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tietjen
mesh_terms: D000081:Acetamides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D001572:Benzofurans / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / Q000187:drug effects*; D006540:Herbicides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D015394:Molecular Structure; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D010641:Phenotype; D010802:Phylogeny; D013451:Sulfonic Acids / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013830:Thiadiazoles / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D000081:Acetamides; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; C402598:At2g26250 protein, Arabidopsis; D001572:Benzofurans; D006540:Herbicides; D013451:Sulfonic Acids; D013830:Thiadiazoles; C094127:FOE 5043; C480688:benfuresate