THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NUCLEAR MALE-STERILITY SYSTEM IN WHEAT - EXPRESSION OF THE BARNASE GENE UNDER THE CONTROL OF TAPETUM SPECIFIC PROMOTERS

Nuclear male sterility within Triticum aestivum is considered as the i deal basis for the development of a hybridization system for wheat. We engineered nuclear male sterility in wheat by introducing the barnase gene under the control of tapetum-specific promoters derived from cor n and rice. A biolistic-mediated transformation method, based on the u se of the poly(ADP-ribose)polymerase inhibitor niacinamide, was set up which enriched for low-copy integrations (1-3 copies). Most of these copies were not linked and segregated in the next generation.