Use of the small subunit of plant acetolactate synthase for new herbicide discovery

摘要

The present invention provides a cDNA sequence encoding the small subunit of plant acetolactate synthase ("ALS"). When plant ALS small subunit protein is mixed with the gene product referred to by others as plant acetolactate synthase (and referred to herein as the ALS large subunit), the resulting reconstituted ALS holoenzyme shows both increased catalytic efficiency and solution stability when compared to the large subunit alone. Acetolactate synthase holoenzyme is sensitive to inhibition by herbicidal compounds known to inhibit ALS in vivo as their mode of action. Thus, the ALS holoenzyme is useful in screening for novel crop protection chemicals.