Plant glutamine synthetase inhibitors and methods for their identification
View Patent ↗Provided are methods for identification of plant glutamine synthetase inhibitors as well as the plant synthetase inhibitors identified. Further provided are methods of modulating glutamine synthetase activity in a plant, particularly weeds by applying to the plant or substrate for cultivating the plant a microorganism (e.g. Burkholderia strain) in an amount effective to modulate glutamine synthetase activity.
1. A method for identifying a substance that modulates plant glutamine synthetase activity in vitro comprising the steps of:
(a) contacting a plant glutamine synthetase with a test plant glutamine synthetase modulator that comprises an isolated culture or a whole cell broth of Burkholderia A396 (NRRL Accession No. B-50319);
(b) determining whether or not the activity of the glutamine synthetase is modulated relative to the activity of a plant glutamine synthetase that has not been contacted with the test plant glutamine synthetase modulator;
(c) comparing the activity of the plant glutamine synthetase when contacted with the test plant glutamine synthetase modulator with the activity of the plant glutamine synthetase when contacted with a known plant glutamine synthetase modulator;
(d) applying said test plant glutamine synthetase modulator to at least a portion of a plant; and
(e) determining if said test plant glutamine synthetase modulator has herbicidal activity.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said microorganism comprises a 16S rRNA gene sequence comprising the forward sequence having at least 99% identity to the sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 8, 11, 12 and a reverse sequence having at least 99% identity to the sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 9, 10, 13, 14 and 15.
3. A method for identifying an herbicidal substance comprising the steps of:
(a) identifying a substance that inhibits plant glutamine synthetase activity by;
(i) contacting a plant glutamine synthetase with a glutamine synthetase modulator that comprises an isolated culture or a whole cell broth of Burkholderia A396 (NRRL Accession No. B-50319);
(ii) determining a modulated activity for the plant glutamine synthetase contacted with the glutamine synthetase modulator;
(iii) comparing the modulated activity to a native activity of a plant glutamine synthetase that has not been contacted with the glutamine synthetase modulator;
(b) applying said substance to a plant or plant part; and
(c) determining if said substance identified as a glutamine synthetase inhibitor in (a) has herbicidal activity.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein said microorganism comprises a 16S rRNA gene sequence comprising the forward sequence having at least 99% identity to the sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 8, 11, 12 and a reverse sequence having at least 99% identity to the sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 9, 10, 13, 14 and 15.