Abstract
Although much of what we know about the genetic basis of herbicide
resistance has come from detailed investigations of monogenic adaptation
at known target-sites, the importance of polygenic resistance has been
increasingly recognized. Despite this, little work has been done to
characterize the genomic basis of herbicide resistance, including the
number and distribution of involved genes, their effect sizes, allele
frequencies, and signatures of selection. Here we implement genome-wide
association (GWA) and population genomic approaches to examine the
genetic architecture of glyphosate resistance in the problematic
agricultural weed, Amaranthus tuberculatus. GWA correctly
identifies the gene targeted by glyphosate, and additionally finds more
than 100 genes across all 16 chromosomes associated with resistance. The
encoded proteins have relevant non-target-site resistance and
stress-related functions, with potential for pleiotropic roles in
resistance to other herbicides and diverse life history traits.
Resistance-related alleles are enriched for large effects and
intermediate frequencies, implying that strong selection has shaped the
genetic architecture of resistance despite potential pleiotropic costs.
The range of common and rare allele involvement implies a partially
shared genetic basis of non-target-site resistance across populations,
complemented by population-specific alleles. Resistance-related alleles
show evidence of balancing selection, and suggest a long-term
maintenance of standing variation at stress-response loci that have
implications for plant performance under herbicide pressure. By our
estimates, genome-wide SNPs explain a near comparable amount of the
total variation in glyphosate resistance to monogenic mechanisms,
indicating the potential for an underappreciated polygenic contribution
to the evolution of herbicide resistance in weed populations.