Biochemical basis for glyphosate-tolerance in a bacterium and a plant tissue culture

AbstractThe broad spectrum herbicide glyphosate (N-[phosphonomethyl]-glycine) is an inhibitor of the shikimate pathway enzyme 5-enolpyruvylshikimic acid-3-phosphate (EPSP)-synthase of both bacterial and higher plant origin. Aerobacter aerogenes, as well as cultured cells of the higher plant Corydalis sempervirens, adapted to growth in the presence of up to 10 mM glyphosate, exhibited a 10–30-fold increase in their EPSP-synthase activity, and excreted (A. aerogenes) or accumulated (C. sempervirens) massive amounts of shikimic acid-3-phosphate and/or shikimic acid