Herbicide safeners, also known as antidotes, are used to protect crops from herbicide injury (Hatzios, 1983(Hatzios, , 1989Fuerst, 1987). One important class of safeners is the dichloroacetamides, such as dichlormid, which are used in combination with thiocarbamate and chloroacetanilide herbicides on maize (Zea mays L.) and sorghum. Examples of these classes of compound are shown in Figure 1. Although it is well established that in maize dichloroacetamide safeners elevate GSH levels and induce novel GSH S-transferases, the mechanism by which they do so is not known (Lay et al., 1975;Fuerst et al., 1993).Etiolated maize seedlings contain a soluble, highaffinity-binding activity (K d , 0.12 m) for a tritiated form of the dichloroacetamide safener Saf (Fig. 1) (Walton and Casida, 1995). Although present in all tissues, SafBA is highest in the coleoptile. There is a good correlation between inhibition of Saf binding in vitro and safener action in vivo among a series of Saf analogs, with dichlormid, a widely used dichloroacetamide safener, being the strongest binding antagonist of any compound tested (IC 50 , 10 nm). Chloroacetanilide and thiocarbamate herbicides, which dichloroacetamide safeners protect against, are also strong competitive inhibitors of Saf binding; metolachlor and EPTC (Fig. 1) have IC 50 values of 110 and 40 nm, respectively (Walton and Casida, 1995). Despite their intensive use in agriculture for more than 30 years, the mode of action of these herbicides is currently unknown.To begin to address the question of the role of SafBA in the response of maize seedlings to dichloroacetamide safeners and, possibly, to the two classes of herbicides, we have further characterized SafBA. Here we report the purification of SafBP, immunological studies of its tissue and species distribution, and the cloning, sequencing, and expression in Escherichia coli of a cDNA encoding SafBP.
MATERIALS AND METHODSGenotypes and sources of plant materials are as described by Walton and Casida (1995). The Arabidopsis thaliana ecotype was Columbia and the tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) cultivar was SR-1. Plants were grown in the dark on wet paper towels for 4 to 7 d.
Binding Assay
Racemic Saf and [3 H]Saf (specific activity, 15 Ci/mmol) were prepared according to the method of Latli and Casida 1 This project was supported by Novartis, Inc., the Department of Energy, Division of Energy Biosciences (grant no. DEFG02-91ER20021 to J.D.W.), and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (grant no. P01 ES00049 to J.E.C.).2 These two authors contributed equally to the experimental work.* Corresponding author; e-mail walton@pilot.msu.edu; fax 1-517-353-9168.Abbreviations: EPTC, S-ethyl dipropylthiocarbamate; IC 50 , inhibitor concentration that reduces specific binding by 50%; IPTG, isopropyl--d-thiogalactopyranoside; OMT, O-methyltransferase; Saf, the dichloroacetamide safener (R,S)-3-dichloroacetyl-2,2,5-trimethyloxazolidine (also known as R-29148); SafBA, safenerbinding activity; SafBP, safener-binding protein.