APH1 demonstrates effective control over a broad panel of weeds at commercial dose rates

AgPlenus, a company designing effective, sustainable crop protection products by leveraging computational biology and chemistry, and a subsidiary of Evogene, has achieved positive results in a Proof of Concept (POC) testing of a resistance trait for its leading novel Mode-of-Action (MoA) herbicide product candidate, APH1.

The preferred agricultural practice in field crops is utilising herbicides that only affect weeds, and not the commercial crop. Among other benefits, this allows farmers to apply the herbicide during the growing season without risk to the commercial crop. Therefore, there is importance in developing herbicides to which commercial crops have inherent tolerance, or for which resistance can be developed. The announcement focuses on the progress in developing a resistance trait to AgPlenus’ leading herbicide candidate, APH1.

APH1 demonstrated effective control over a broad panel of weeds at commercial dose rates, including control over weeds that are known to have resistance to existing herbicides. The achievement of the milestone now being reported follows the conclusion of greenhouse tests demonstrating that model plants modified with a resistance trait, and treated with APH1, was resistant to it, showing no damage after application.

The results indicate the potential for developing commercial crops with herbicide resistance to APH1, expanding its potential use to additional commercial crops. As previously disclosed, corn and other cereals already exhibit inherent tolerance to APH1, while additional important target crops, such as soybean, do not. Therefore, the development of a resistance trait to APH1 can facilitate the potential offering of APH1 to those additional crops.

AgPlenus’ herbicide programme focuses on the discovery and targeting of new MoAs to overcome herbicide resistance issues. AgPlenus’ herbicide candidate APH1 is the first chemical compound addressing a novel MoA from this program to reach the ’Lead’ stage. This MoA is not present in higher organisms such as mammals, which may favourably impact its potential safety profile.

In parallel, AgPlenus is working on developing crops resistant to its new MoA herbicides, to expand the potential of their commercial application. Crops that are resistant to herbicides enable the implementation of weed management practices that improve yield and profitability while lowering the environmental impact.

To achieve this POC, AgPlenus transformed tobacco plants to express a protein that made them resistant to APH1. These modified plants were grown in a greenhouse and sprayed with a high dose of APH1, equivalent to 2 kg/ha.