Herbicide resistance found to be caused by pre-existing genetic variation in blackgrass

Blackgrass has become the most economically damaging herbicide-resistant weed in Europe. A team led by researchers of the Max Planck Institute for Biology Tübingen and the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart has now found out that these resistances are mostly attributable to genetic variants that predate the use of herbicides. Their results now appear in the journals Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and Plant Biotechnology Journal.