In vivo fluorescent screening for HPPD-targeted herbicide discovery

作者：Fu, Yi-Xuan; Zhang, Zi-Ye; Guo, Wu-Yingzheng; Dai, Yi-Jie; Wang, Zheng-Yu; Yang, Wen-Chao^*; Yang, Guang-Fu^*

来源：Pest Management Science, 2022, 78(11): 4947-4955.

DOI：10.1002/ps.7117

• herbicide
• 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase
• fluorescent sensors
• imaging

Background 4-Hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (HPPD), playing a critical role in vitamin E and plastoquinone biosynthesis in plants, has been recognized as one of the most important targets for herbicide discovery for over 30 years. Structure-based rational design of HPPD inhibitors has received more and more research interest. However, a critical challenge in the discovery of new HPPD inhibitors is the common inconsistency between molecular-level HPPD-based bioevaluation and the weed control efficiency in fields, due to the unpredictable biological processes of absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion. Results In this study, we developed a fluorescent-sensing platform of efficient in vivo screening for HPPD-targeted herbicide discovery. The refined sensor has good capability of in situ real-time fluorescence imaging of HPPD in living cells and zebrafish. More importantly, it enabled the direct visible monitoring of HPPD inhibition in plants in a real-time manner. Conclusion We developed a highly efficient in vivo fluorescent screening method for HPPD-targeted herbicide discovery. This discovery not only offers a promising tool to advance HPPD-targeted herbicide discovery, but it also demonstrates a general path to develop the highly efficient, target-based, in vivo screening for pesticide discovery.