TRANSGENIC DURUM-WHEAT BY MICROPROJECTILE BOMBARDMENT OF ISOLATED SCUTELLA

A biolistic transformation method was developed, for the first time, f or durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L., 2n = 4x = 28; AABB) cultivar Med ora using isolated scutella as target cells, gus as a reporter gene, a nd bar (herbicide resistance gene) as a selectable marker, An average of 116 GUS foci per scutellum were observed 2 days after bombardment, After selection for herbicide resistance by adding 5 mg/l L-phosphinot hricin (L-PPT) to the medium during regeneration and spot application of 120 mg/l L-PPT on the leaves of regenerated plants, we identified f ive resistant plants from a total of 245 scutella bombarded, All these plants were fertile, Of the 1048 T-1 seeds germinated from five lines (dwt1, dwt2, dwt3, dwt4, and dwt5), a total of 104 T-1 plants were re covered that showed resistance to the herbicide glufosinate when spray ed at a concentration of 120 mg/l L-PPT Some of the herbicide-resistan t T-1 plants exhibited phosphinothricin acetyltransferase (PAT) enzyme activity, indicating the presence of the bar gene in the transgenics, The integration of gus and bar genes into the genomes of durum wheat was further confirmed by Southern analysis, Development of this transf ormation procedure with an agronomically superior durum cultivar will open up new avenues for the enhancement of the existing germplasm thro ugh biotechnology.