Find in Library

<i>Bromus japonicus</i> is a common monocot weed that occurs in major winter wheat fields in the Huang–Huai–Hai region of China. Pyroxsulam is a highly efficient and safe acetolactate synthase (ALS)-inhibiting herbicide that is widely used to control common weeds in wheat fields. However, <i>B. japonicus</i> populations in China have evolved resistance to pyroxsulam by different mutations in the <i>ALS</i> gene. To understand the resistance distribution, target-site resistance mechanisms, and cross-resistance patterns, 208 <i>B. japonicus</i> populations were collected from eight provinces. In the resistant population screening experiment, 59 populations from six provinces showed different resistance levels to pyroxsulam compared with the susceptible population, of which 17 <i>B. japonicus</i> populations with moderate or high levels of resistance to pyroxsulam were mainly from the Hebei (4), Shandong (4) and Shanxi (9) Provinces. Some resistant populations were selected to investigate the target site-resistance mechanism to the ALS-inhibiting herbicide pyroxsulam. Three pairs of primers were designed to amplify the <i>ALS</i> sequence, which was assembled into the complete <i>ALS</i> sequence with a length of 1932 bp. DNA sequencing of <i>ALS</i> revealed that four different <i>ALS</i> mutations (Pro-197-Ser, Pro-197-Thr, Pro-197-Phe and Asp-376-Glu) were found in 17 moderately or highly resistant populations. Subsequently, five resistant populations, QM21-41 with Pro-197-Ser, QM20-8 with Pro-197-Thr and Pro-197-Phe, and QM21-72, QM21-76 and QM21-79 with Asp-376-Glu mutations in <i>ALS</i> genes, were selected to characterize their cross-resistance patterns to ALS inhibitors. The QM21-41, QM20-8, QM21-72, QM21-76 and QM21-79 populations showed broad-spectrum cross-resistance to pyroxsulam, mesosulfuron–methyl and flucarbazone–sodium. This study is the first to report evolving cross-resistance to ALS-inhibiting herbicides due to Pro-197-Phe mutations in <i>B. japonicus</i>.