Dehydroquinate dehydrase/shikimate dehydrogenase as a herbicide target

摘要

The present invention relates to the use of nucleic acid sequences encoding a polypeptide with dehydroquinate dehydratase/shikimate dehydrogenase activity for generating an assay system for finding dehydroquinate dehydratase/shikimate dehydrogenase inhibitors. Using antisense techniques, it was shown for the first time that dehydroquinate dehydratase/shikimate dehydrogenase constitutes a target for herbicides. Moreover, the application relates to the generation of transgenic plants comprising a nucleic acid sequence encoding a polypeptide with dehydroquinate dehydratase/shikimate dehydrogenase (E.C. 4.2.1.10/E.C. 1.1.1.25) activity which comprises an increased biomass production and/or an increased content in aromatic amino acids in comparison with a nontransgenic plant.