REGENERATION AND GENETIC TRANSFORMATION OF DURUM WHEAT

Authors: MANOHARAN, M. - UNIV OF ARK, PINE BLUFF; Dahleen, Lynn

Submitted to: Congress on In Vitro Biology
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/11/2003
Publication Date: 5/1/2003
Citation: MANOHARAN, M., DAHLEEN, L.S. REGENERATION AND GENETIC TRANSFORMATION OF DURUM WHEAT. CONGRESS ON IN VITRO BIOLOGY. IN VITRO. 2003. V. 39. Abstract p. 2001.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L.) is an important cereal crop used for making pasta and semolina. Efforts are in progress to improve durum wheat through gene transfer technology for characteristics such as disease resistance, especially for Fusarium head blight (FHB) caused by Fusarium graminearum (Schwabe). A major constraint is the lack of an efficient, reproducible and reliable method of genetic transformation of durum wheat. We have established an efficient and reproducible regeneration system with the cv. Monroe. Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium with different concentrations (1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 and 3.0 mg/L) of picloram (4-amino-3,5,6-trichloropicolinic acid) or 2 mg/L 2, 4, 4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid (2,4-D) were used to culture immature embryos for their morphogenetic response. Embryogenic calli proliferated on 2.0 mg/L picloram but was rarely evident on 2,4-D containing media. Picloram at 2.0 mg/L also regenerated more plants than either 2,4-D or the other picloram concentrations. For genetic transformation, the calli were bombarded with the pathogenesis-related gene thaumatin-like (tlp) from rice, and a modified Tri101 gene, along with the bar gene for selection. PCR and Southern analysis indicated the regenerated plants contained the transgenes and the western analysis confirmed the expression of the tlp in the durum wheat cv. Monroe.