A rapid system for studiyng foreign gene expression in wheat

JUAN PABLO AMELIO ORTIZ; RAVIZZINI, R.; MORATA, M. M.; VALLEJOS, RH

JOURNAL OF APPLIED GENETICS

POLISH ACAD SCIENCES

Lugar: Bialowieza; Año: 1997 vol. 38 p. 123 - 130

1234-1983

The present work describes a rapid and easy way to study foreing gene expression in wheat through microparticle bombardment. Transiente ecpression of the GUS reporter gene was evaluated in different tissues of the cultivar Buck Ombú. Transformation was carried out employing an helium gun microparticle accelerator and several plasmid contructions. Embryogenic calli, immature embryos and immature imflorescences showed a higher number of transformed cells per Petri dish. Basal leaf segments were the least efficient. When vectors were tested in scutellar tissue of immature embryos, the maize ubiquitin promoter (Ubi1) produced the highest level of transient GUS expression, followed by the alcohol dehydrogenase promoter of maize plus its first intron (Adh Adh-intron 1) and the sunflower ubiquitin promoter. The CamV35S promoter was the least effective. These results were in agreement with previous reports carried out in cell suspensions or embryogenic calli and indicate that wheat immature embryos and immature inflorescences are suitable for rapid test of promoter sequences or transformation conditions. Moreover, efficient transformation of these explants could help to the stable transformation of agronomically important  genotypes.