Herbicide-resistant weeds exploit kinship to reduce allelopathy from crops

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ID: 315676
2026
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Abstract
Kin recognition enables plants to optimize growth strategies when competing with heterospecific neighbors, yet its prevalence in herbicide-resistant weeds and how herbicide-resistant weeds exploit kinship to interact with allelopathic crops remain largely unknown. Here, we experimentally demonstrate that kin recognition occurred in 4 out of 10 tested herbicide-resistant weed biotypes from wheat and paddy fields. Root segregation treatments confirmed that kin recognition was mediated by root-secreted chemical signals. When interacting with allelopathic rice and wheat, kin-recognition-enabled weed biotypes exhibited striking plasticity. Kinship-based pairing reduced root allocation but accelerated flowering and increased seed production. Crucially, herbicide-resistant weed biotypes growing with kin lowered exudation of the signaling (-)-loliolide, which reduced allelochemical production in crops and minimized crop-mediated growth inhibition. This cascade allowed weeds to reallocate resources toward reproduction and to reduce defense investment in crops-revealing a novel "signal-mediated mutual de-escalation" strategy. The findings suggest that kin recognition is an adaptive trait in herbicide-resistant weeds, reducing allelopathy from crops through (-)-loliolide-mediated chemical interactions. By modulating crop signaling systems, herbicide-resistant weeds exploit kinship for population expansion in agroecosystems, highlighting the role of kinship strategy in shaping weed adaptation to develop integrated weed management approaches.
Reference Key
openalex_W7163321523 Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors Xuefang Yang, Le Ding, 纪晓彤 JI Xiao-tong, Ru-Yuan Zhang, Wei-Zhong Tang, Chui‐Hua Kong
Journal Journal of experimental botany
Year 2026
DOI
10.1093/jxb/erag267
URL
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