Patent ID: 7977046

Claim:
A method of selecting a DNA construct effective for conferring herbicide tolerance in a crop plant from a plurality of DNA constructs, said method comprising: i) transforming a plant cell of a model plant with a DNA construct comprising a first DNA molecule that functions as a promoter of RNA transcription in a plant cell, operably linked to a second DNA molecule encoding a herbicide tolerance protein, operably linked to a third DNA molecule providing transcription termination in a plant cell; ii) growing the transformed plant cell of model plant into a transformed whole model plant; iii) treating the transformed whole model plant prior to flower formation with an effective dose of a herbicide for which the herbicide tolerance gene is effective; iv) scoring the transformed whole model plant for vegetative damage and reproductive fertility; v) performing steps i-iv with at least one other DNA construct containing the same second DNA molecule encoding a herbicide tolerance protein but different in at least one of the first or third DNA molecules; and vi) selecting at least one of said DNA constructs that provides a high level of herbicide tolerance to vegetative damage and a high level of herbicide tolerance to reproductive damage to the transformed whole model plant.