Molecular Biology of Weed Control

Molecular Biology of Weed Control

• Emphasizes the utility of molecular biology in contributing to the control of intransigent weed species
• Provides a thorough review of the molecular aspects of the evolution of herbicide resistance in weeds and genetically engineered herbicide resistant crops
• Explains the ways in which the science of weed control has helped develop other areas of molecular biology
• Considers herbicide mechanisms of action, evolution of resistance, weed ecology, and biological control in light of the fundamental biochemical and genetic principles that control them

"Weeds are rarely considered a priority despite the fact that all active farmers know that the majority of their variable costs and time are devoted to eradicating them. Even most crop losses due to pests can be traced directly back to weeds, which harbor the pests as secondary hosts.

In the Molecular Biology of Weed Control, Jonathan Gressel focuses attention upon the tools of molecular biology that can be used effectively in the science of weed control. Always keeping his perspective congruent with that of the working farmer, Gressel explains how weed biologists and ecologists are beginning to use recently developed tools to control intransigent weed species in modern as well as less developed areas of the world. With his usual candor, Gressel evaluates past efforts, while also exploring future prospects for replacing chemical herbicides with genetic engineering, to improve a crop's ability to compete against its feral cousins for light, nutrients, and water.

Like much of Gressel's work, this book should be mandatory reading for all agriculturists and plant scientists, so that they employ and encourage what is truly effective and efficient in meeting one of this century's most critical challenges: maximizing agricultural productivity.

Table of Contents
Introduction
Molecular Tools for Herbicide Discovery
Molecular Tools for Studying Weed Biology, Ecology, and Taxonomy
Evolution of Resistance to Herbicides
Molecular Biochemistry of Resistances that have Evolved in the Field
Generation of Biotechnologically-Derived Herbicide-Resistant Crops (BD-HRC)
The Next Generations of BD-HRC
Transgene Introgression from Crops to Weeds and its Modulation
Modifying Crops and Weeds to Directly Control Weeds
Molecular Biology in Weed Biocontrol