Food production will have to increase in the future to meet the nutritional needs of a growing human population. It therefore makes sense to use genetic techniques to improve crops, as it is possible to produce plants with the desired characteristics and even increase yields. The commercial success of genetically modified plants (GMP) has demonstrated the success of selected traits in crops using them. Important traits of GM crops include improved and more effective weed control, reduced losses due to pests, viruses and reduced need for insecticides, reduced post-harvest losses, longer shelf-life, resistance to storage pests, increased nutritional quality and more efficient production of hybrid seed. Weeds have long been a significant cause of agricultural losses, responsible for 10% of the reduction in agricultural production on an annual basis. To increase this, it is economical to treat crops effectively with herbicides. However, the overuse of modern herbicides can lead to the rapid development of weeds that become resistant to herbicides. By incorporating herbicide tolerance into crops, we gain a new way of ensuring selectivity and improving crop safety and production. Herbicides act on key enzymes in the plant's metabolic pathway, interfering with the production of plant food and eventually destroying it. Some plants may have acquired this trait through selection or mutation, but more recently plants can be modified through genetic engineering. Tolerance strategies include: formation of a new protein that detoxifies the herbicide; modification of the herbicide target protein so that it is unaffected by the herbicide; or the formation of physical or physiological barriers that prevent the herbicide from entering the plant. In my thesis, I will focus on the mechanisms of action of herbicide-tolerant GSRs, target sites and, finally, on concrete examples of herbicide-tolerant GM crops.
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