Patent ID: 7374899

Claim:
A method of identifying herbicidally active compounds, comprising: i. bringing an isolated polypeptide with the biological activity of a sucrose-6-phosphate phosphatase encoded by a nucleic acid molecule, wherein the nucleic acid molecule comprises: a) a nucleic acid molecule having the nucleic acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1; b) a nucleic acid molecule having a nucleic acid sequence differing from the nucleic acid sequence of (a) above in codon sequence due to the degeneracy of the genetic code; c) a nucleic acid molecule having a nucleic acid sequence having at least 95% identity with SEQ ID NO:1, wherein the nucleic acid sequence encodes a polypeptide having sucrose-6-phosphate phosphatase activity; d) a nucleic acid molecule which encodes a polypeptide having the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2; or e) a nucleic acid molecule which encodes a polypeptide having an amino acid sequence having at least 95% identity with SEQ ID NO: 2, wherein the nucleic acid sequence encodes a polypeptide having sucrose-6-phosphate phosphatase activity; into contact with one or more test compounds under conditions which permit the test compound(s) to bind to the nucleic acid molecule or to sucrose-6-phosphate phosphatase; and ii. detecting whether the test compound binds to the sucrose-6-phosphate phosphatase of i); or iii. detecting whether the test compound reduces or blocks the transcription, translation or expression of the sucrose-6-phosphate phosphatase of i).