Towards Development of Imidazolinone Herbicide Resistant Borage (Borago officinalis)

Abstract

Borage (Borago officinalis) is an annual herb plant for culinary and medicinal uses. Due to a high level of gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) in its seed oil and the health-related benefits of GLA, borage is commercially cultivated. However, a herbicide-resistant variety has not yet been developed for effective weed management in borage farming. Thus, this thesis aimed to create, identify and characterize ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) induced borage mutants for herbicide imidazolinone resistance. An EMS-mutagenized borage population was generated by using a series of concentrations of EMS to treat M1 seeds. After screening M2 borage plants with the herbicide, tolerant plants were selected, self-pollinated and grown to their maturity. The offsprings were subjected to herbicide screening again to confirm the phenotype, resulting in identification of two genetically stable imidazolinone-resistant lines. Two acetohydroxyacid synthase (AHAS) genes, AHAS1 and AHAS2, involved in the imidazolinone resistance were isolated and sequenced from both mutant (resistant) and wild type (susceptible) borage plants. Comparison of these AHAS sequences revealed that a single nucleotide substitution occurred in the AHAS1 resulting in an amino acid change from serine (S) in the susceptible plant to asparagine (N) in the first resistant line. The similar substitution was later found in the AHAS2 of the second resistant line. A KASP marker was developed for the AHAS1 mutation to differentiate the homozygous susceptible, homozygous and heterozygous resistant borage plants for the breeding purpose. The in vitro assay showed homozygous resistant borage containing the AHAS1 mutation could retain significantly higher AHAS activity than susceptible borage across different imazamox concentrations. The herbicide dose response test showed that the resistant line with the AHAS1 mutation was tolerant to four times the field applied concentration of the “Solo” herbicide.