Tim Prather uses high tech to help weed warriors streamline battles against noxious weeds. As a Professor of weed ecology at the University of Idaho, Prather doubles as the UI Extension scientist responsible for sharing the newest weed-fighting strategies statewide with weed associations and public agencies. I called up Dr. Prather and chatted about growing weed resistance. He had an intriguing answer. "I'm hearing from farmers more and more these days that they are battling weed resistance and that weeds seem to be coming more resistance to herbicides. Is that true? What can happen is that those plants can have minor changes to those enzymes that doesn't necessarily change how that enzyme functions but it may affect how the herbicide can attach to the enzyme. So if you think about doing a jigsaw puzzle the enzyme would be one piece and the herbicide would be the other piece that tries to lock into the enzyme. If you were to change the shape of the lock on the enzyme, then your jigsaw piece doesn't fit as well."
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