Glufosinate or its ammonium salt DL-phosphinotricin is an active ingredient in several nonselective systemic herbicides - Basta, Rely, Finale, Challenge and Liberty.
Some plants have been genetically modified for resistance to glufosinate. The gene which gives resistance to glufosinate is a bar or pat gene which was first isolated from two species of Streptomyces bacteria. It interferes with the biosynthetic pathway of the amino acid glutamine and with ammonia detoxification. There are glufosinate-resistant transgenic varieties of several crops, including cotton, canola, corn, soybean, sugarbeet, and rice. Of these, only canola, cotton and maize are currently on the market. Thse include Bayer's LibertyLink genes, used in over 100 hybrids.
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