PRODUCTION OF FERTILE TRANSGENIC WHEAT PLANTS BY MICROPROJECTILE BOMBARDMENT OF IMMATURE EMBRYOS

The plasmid pBI121 was introduced by microprojectile bombardment into immature embryos of four spring wheat cultivars, i.e. Jin 2148, 7506, 7606, 5926, and transformation parameters such as the bombardment velo city, tungsten particle diameter, DNA-coated particle loading way and DNA concentration were studied. Fertile transgenic plants were regener ated through the way of embryogenesis from the above transformed scute llar cells of the immature embryos of three (7506, 7606, 5926) out of four cultivars. The transformation frequency reached 0.6%, 0.6% and 1. 4%, respectively. The presence of the beta-glucuronidase (GUS) gene in both R0 and R1 plants was verified by Southern analyses. G418 resista nce in transformed R1 plants showed that the neomycin phosphotransfera se (NPT II), gene segregated as a dominant Mendelian trait in Ri plant s.