Patent ID: 6911575

Claim:
A method to inactivate a nucleotide sequence of interest introduced into a genome of a plant cell, said method comprising: transforming said plant cell with a nucleic acid molecule comprising a promoter operably linked to said nucleotide sequence of interest oncoding a polypeptide capable of conferring herbicide resistance in the plant cell; and introducing into said plant cell at least one chimeric oligonucleotide, said chimeric oligonucleotide having at least a first block of RNA residues and a second block of RNA residues, wherein said first and said second block of RNA residues are homologous to said nucleic acid molecule; said first and said second block of RNA residues are each about 3 nucleotides to about 20 nucleotides in length and are contiguous with and flank a block of DNA residues, wherein the block of DNA residues comprises at least one mismatch to the nucleic acid molecule and said block of DNA residues is about 5 nucleotides to about 60 nucleotides in length; wherein said first RNA block, said DNA block and said second RNA block are identical to a contiguous sequence of the nucleic acid molecule except for the presence of said mismatch in said DNA block; said chimeric oligonucleotide comprises additional DNA residues that are capable of forming a duplex structure with said first block of RNA residues, said block of DNA residues, and said second block of RNA residues; and, said chimeric oligonucleotide being capable of recognizing and implementing a nucleotide conversion in said nucleic acid molecule, whereby said nucleotide conversion in said nucleic acid molecule inactivates the nucleotide sequence of interest encoding the polypeptide capable of conferring herbicide resistance in the plant cell and thereby modulates the herbicide resistance of said plant cell.