Anti-herbicide single-chain antibody expression confers herbicide tolerance in transgenic plants.

An anti-chlorpropham single-chain variable-fragment (scFv) gene was introduced into Arabidopsis in a manner to express the antibody fragment in each of four different subcellular compartments. The accumulation of scFv in transgenic plants was detected by targeting the fragment in the endoplasmic reticulum or apoplastic space, or by expressing the fragment as a glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored protein, while no accumulation could be detected by targeting the fragment in the cytosol. Transgenic plants accumulating the scFv gene at a high level in the endoplasmic reticulum had enhanced tolerance to chlorpropham in comparison with the non-transformants.