Molecular Plant, Volume. 18, Issue 8, 1294(2025)

Structural insights into a plant-conserved DHFRTS reveal a selective herbicide target

Haywood Joel, Breese Karen J., McDougal Daniel P., Verdonk Callum, Partridge Abigail, Lo Adrian F., Zhang Jingjing, Yang Wen-Chao, Bruning John B., Saliba Kevin J., Bond Charles S., Stubbs Keith A., and Mylne Joshua S.

Modern agricultural practices rely on herbicides to reduce yield losses. Herbicide-resistant weeds threaten herbicide utility and, hence, food security. New herbicide modes of action and integrated pest-management practices are vital to mitigate this threat. As the antimalarials that target the bifunctional enzyme dihydrofolate reductase-thymidylate synthase (DHFR-TS) have been shown to be herbicidal, DHFR-TS might represent a mode-of-action target for the development of herbicides. Here, we present the crystal structure of a DHFR-TS (AtDHFR-TS1) from the model dicot Arabidopsis thaliana. It shows a divergent DHFR active site and a linker domain that challenges previous classifications of bifunctional DHFR-TS proteins. This plant-conserved architecture enabled us to develop highly selective herbicidal inhibitors of AtDHFR-TS1 over human DHFR and identify inhibitors with unique scaffolds via a large-library virtual screen. These results suggest that DHFR-TS is a viable herbicide target.

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Haywood Joel, Breese Karen J., McDougal Daniel P., Verdonk Callum, Partridge Abigail, Lo Adrian F., Zhang Jingjing, Yang Wen-Chao, Bruning John B., Saliba Kevin J., Bond Charles S., Stubbs Keith A., Mylne Joshua S.. Structural insights into a plant-conserved DHFRTS reveal a selective herbicide target[J]. Molecular Plant, 2025, 18(8): 1294

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Paper Information

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Received: Mar. 6, 2025

Accepted: Aug. 25, 2025

Published Online: Aug. 25, 2025

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DOI:10.1016/j.molp.2025.06.016

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