ABSTRACT
Control of weeds with herbicides has been critical in food production because weeds compete with crops for water, nutrients, and soil. In addition, weeds can harbor insect and disease pests, and noxious weeds and weed seeds can greatly undermine crop quality. The use of crops containing Roundup Ready™ genes will enable farmers to utilize glyphosate for effective control of weed pests and to take advantage of this herbicide's beneficial features. This chapter discusses soybeans with a Roundup Ready™ gene as a case study of the development of a glyphosate-tolerant crop and corresponding safety assessment programs. Johnston and co-workers described the recurrent selection of fescue turfgrass species tolerant to glyphosate, which is the only known example of in planta selection to yield reasonably high glyphosate tolerance at the whole plant level. 5-enolpyruvyl- shikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS) is an enzyme of the shikimate pathway of aromatic amino acid biosynthesis, and is present in plants, bacteria, and fungi, but not animals.
