A herbicide-resistant ACCase 1781 Setaria mutant shows higher fitness than wild type

It is often alleged that mutations conferring herbicide resistance have a negative impact on plant fitness. A mutant ACCase1781 allele endowing resistance to the sethoxydim herbicide was introgressed from a resistant green foxtail (Setaria viridis (L.) Beauv) population into foxtail millet (S. italica (L.) Beauv.). (1) Better and earlier growth of resistant plants was observed in a greenhouse cabinet. (2) Resistant plants of the advanced BC7 backcross generation showed more vigorous juvenile growth in the field, earlier flowering, more tillers and higher numbers of grains than susceptible plants did, especially when both genotypes were grown in mixture, but their seeds were lighter than susceptible seeds. (3) Field populations originating from segregating hybrids had the expected allele frequencies under normal growth conditions, but showed a genotype shift toward an excess of homozygous resistant plants within 3 years in stressful conditions. Lower seed size, lower germination rate and perhaps unexplored differences in seed longevity and predation could explain how the resistant plants have the same field fitness over the whole life cycle as the susceptible ones although they produce more seeds. More rapid growth kinetics probably accounted for higher fitness of the resistant plants in adverse conditions. The likelihood of a linkage with a beneficial gene is discussed versus the hypothesis of a pleiotropic effect of the ACCase resistance allele. It is suggested that autogamous species like Setaria could not develop a resistant population without the help of a linkage with a gene producing a higher fitness. Heredity (2010) 105, 394-400; doi:10.1038/hdy.2009.183; published online 20 January 2010