The first demonstration of laser action in ruby was made in 1960 by T. H. Maiman of Hughes Research Laboratories, USA. Many laboratories worldwide began the search for lasers using different materials, operating at different wavelengths. In the UK, academia, industry and the central laboratories took up the challenge from the earliest days to develop these systems for a broad range of applications. This historical review looks at the contribution the UK has made to the advancement of the technology, the development of systems and components and their exploitation over the last 60 years.

Field observations indicate that sulfonylurea-resistant kochia may germinate at lower soil temperatures and/or germinate more rapidly than susceptible kochia in the absence of herbicide. To investigate this possibility, seeds from three resistant and two susceptible kochia accessions were germinated at temperatures ranging from 4.6 to 13.2 C on thermal gradient plates. At 4.6 and 13.2 C, germination rates of all resistant accessions were higher than susceptible accessions, while germination rates of one resistant accession were higher than susceptible accessions at 7.2 and 10.5 C. Percent germination of all resistant accessions was significantly higher than susceptible accessions after 48 h at 4.6 C. At higher temperatures, percent germination of some resistant accessions was higher after 12 or 24 h, but germination of all accessions was similar at later times. HPLC analysis revealed that seeds from resistant accessions contained about 2-fold higher free levels of branched chain amino acids than seeds from susceptible accessions. The results indicate that mutations conferring resistance to sulfonylurea herbicides in these kochia accessions may concomitantly reduce or abolish acetolactate synthase sensitivity to normal feedback inhibition patterns, resulting in elevated levels of branched chain amino acids available for cell division and growth during early germination.

Repeated use of the preemergence herbicide triallate has selected for wild oat populations that are resistant (R) to field use rates. Field collections and an inbred R line were shown in greenhouse and petri dish dose response experiments to be 6- to 20-fold more tolerant to triallate than susceptible (S) lines. R populations and the inbred line were also resistant (8-fold) to the related thiocarbamate herbicide diallate, as well as to the chemically unrelated postemergence herbicide difenzoquat (60-fold). 14C-triallate uptake and translocation patterns were similar between R and S lines for the first 24 h after application. However, translocation of radioactivity was more rapid in S lines than R lines from 24 through 60 h after application. 14C-difenzoquat uptake was the same in R and S lines 12 h after application, but was 10 to 20% higher in R lines than S lines by 24 through 96 h after application. Similarly, translocation of radioactivity after 14C-difenzoquat application was 7 to 14% greater in R than S lines after 12 h, although translocated radioactivity amounts were not significantly different between R and S lines. The relatively minor differences in triallate and difenzoquat uptake and translocation patterns between R and S lines are most likely not of sufficient magnitude to explain the observed resistance levels.

Rapid strides are being made in understanding the fundamental regulation of plant growth, development, and responses to the environment due to recent advances in molecular biology. Current questions in weed science such as herbicide mechanisms of action, biodegradation, and mechanisms of weed resistance are equally approachable using such methodology. Efforts to introduce herbicide resistance into agronomically important crops are possible because of successful isolation and transfer of genes. Investigations of weed survival and competitive strategies based on developmental processes, such as seed dormancy, are currently underway using techniques designed to monitor and characterize differential gene expression. Molecular methodology also plays a key role in taxonomic studies of weed populations using restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) mapping. The future potential for these and other techniques such as nucleic acid hybridization, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), gene transfer, and the use of transgenic plants is described.

Kochia pollen dispersion was measured during 24 and 48 h periods from a kochia population in an 8- by 10-m area in the center of a 1.6 ha fallow field. Pollen counts from traps at 50- and 100-cm heights declined rapidly with increasing distance from the pollen source. Pollen deposition was highest along the prevailing wind direction: up to 23 pollen grains cm–2 were recovered 50 m from the pollen source along the southeast (SE) vector. Nonlinear regression analysis of pollen deposition along the SE vector was used to estimate that 99.9% of shed pollen would be deposited within 154.4 m of the source. Viability of pollen from greenhouse- and field-grown plants was measured using staining and germination assays. of four pollen stains tested, only 1,2,3-triphenyl tetrazolium chloride gave consistent results and did not stain heat-killed pollen. Depending on environmental conditions, kochia pollen remained viable from less than 1 d to 12 d. Length of kochia pollen viability was shortest under high temperatures (22 and 28 C) and low relative humidity (7 and 32%). Less than 0.5% germination was observed in 1.1% agar media with various additions; however, up to 17.8% germination was observed after incubation at 28 C in 100% relative humidity.

Many common agronomic practices affect weed seed dormancy and germination by influencing the microenvironmental and edaphic conditions surrounding seeds in soil. Factors such as light penetration, soil water content, soil fertility, and temperature are modified by tillage, planting, harvesting, and other production practices, resulting in enhanced or depressed weed seed germination. Changes in these environmental factors may also indirectly lead to alterations in phytohormone concentrations during seed development, which can subsequently affect dormancy status of the mature seed. Integrated approaches that place priority on depleting weed seed banks through interfering with dormancy or germination requirements have strong potential to enhance weed management aspects of agricultural systems.

Auxin-mediated responses of kochia biotypes resistant to dicamba (HRd) or resistant to dicamba and fluroxypyr (HRdf) were compared with those of two susceptible biotypes. Rates of shoot and root gravitropic response and patterns of apical dominance, as determined by lateral bud sprouting after decapitation, were determined in the absence of herbicide treatment. Shoots of susceptible plants reoriented toward vertical at a rate of 23.4° h−1, whereas the rates of HRd and HRdf shoot reorientation were significantly slower at 7.2° and 14.4° h−1, respectively. Root gravitropic responses were not different between resistant and susceptible biotypes. In contrast to susceptible biotypes, both apical and basal lateral buds on HRd plants elongated after decapitation, although differences between HRd and susceptible biotypes became smaller during succeeding weeks. The elongation pattern of HRdf lateral buds was intermediate to that of susceptible and HRd plants. Inhibition assays of root growth by natural and synthetic auxins showed that HRd root growth was less sensitive to dicamba, 2,4-D, naphthalene-1-acetic acid, and indole-3-acetic acid than was root growth of HRdf or the susceptible biotypes. Collectively, results support the hypothesis that auxin binding or signal transduction pathways are impaired in resistant biotypes and that HRd may contain different lesions than does HRdf.

The herbicide resistance to dicamba (HRd) biotype of kochia is resistant to several auxinic herbicides and is impaired in shoot gravitropism and other auxin-mediated responses. To better characterize the biotype and investigate its mechanism of resistance, we used messenger RNA (mRNA) differential display to compare patterns of dicamba-induced gene expression in HRd and susceptible (S1) plants. More than 60,000 complementary DNA fragments were generated and examined, 106 of which were isolated and used as probes on Northern blots to confirm gene expression levels. Steady-state levels of > 90% of mRNAs did not change after dicamba application. However, several mRNAs were detected whose levels were decreased, increased, or differentially regulated between the biotypes within minutes of dicamba treatment. The abundance of three mRNAs decreased after treatment, two of which had significant sequence similarity to choline monooxygenase and 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase, respectively. Conversely, increased expression levels were observed for a putative chloride channel protein, 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate synthase, and an unknown gene. Genes differentially expressed between HRd and S1 plants included those similar to a putative translation initiation factor, xyloglucan endotransglycosylase, and a hypothetical protein cloned from several organisms. The results demonstrate that mRNA differential display is a useful technique for discovering genes that are rapidly regulated as part of a physiological response, and that this approach may provide insight into the mechanism of auxinic herbicide resistance in kochia.