Exploring Gene Expression in a Trifluralin-Resistant Palmer Amaranth Accession from Arkansas.

Resistance mechanisms to trifluralin have been explored in a Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri S. Watson) accession collected in eastern Arkansas. However, gene expression has not yet been studied. Thus, the objective of this research was to describe the basal gene expression levels of the a- and ß-tubulin genes in a trifluralin-resistant Palmer amaranth accession. Basal gene expression levels of the a- and ß-tubulin genes were measured relative to Cinnamoyl-CoA reductase (CCR) and peter Pan-like (PPAN) in non-treated tissue of both resistant and susceptible Palmer amaranth accessions. Results demonstrated that the basal expression levels found in both the a- and ß-tubulin genes were in the range of 0.4-1.0-fold. No significant differences were found between the resistant and susceptible accessions in either of the reference genes used. These results further corroborate the presence of nontarget site resistance mechanisms in this trifluralin-resistant accession collected in eastern Arkansas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]