Weed response to herbicides: regional-scale distribution of herbicide resistance alleles in the grass weed Alopecurus myosuroides

Effective herbicide resistance management requires an assessment of the range of spatial dispersion of resistance genes among weed populations and identification of the vectors of this dispersion. In the grass weed Alopecurus myosuroides (black-grass), seven alleles of the acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACCase) gene are known to confer herbicide resistance. Here, we assessed their respective frequencies and spatial distribution on two nested geographical scales (the whole of France and the French administrative district of Cote d'Or) by genotyping 13 151 plants originating from 243 fields. Genetic variation in ACCase was structured in local populations at both geographical scales. No spatial structure in the distribution of resistant ACCase alleles and no isolation by distance were detected at either geographical scale investigated. These data, together with ACCase sequencing and data from the literature, suggest that evolution of A. myosuroides resistance to herbicides occurred at the level of the field or group of adjacent fields by multiple, independent appearances of mutant ACCase alleles that seem to have rather restricted spatial propagation. Seed transportation by farm machinery seems the most likely vector for resistance gene dispersal in A. myosuroides.