Agrobacterium-mediated transformation and plant regeneration of Triticum aestivum L.

The use of two Agrobacterium tumefaciens strains for transformation of Triticum aestivum L. cv. Vesna was studied. Immature embryos, isolated 15 d after pollination, were co-cultivated with the super-binary LBA4404/pTOK233 and the binary AGL1/pDM805 vectors. While the transient GUS-intron expression was high (69.9 and 80.0%), the number of plants regenerated on selective media containing hygromycin or phosphinotricin did not exceed 0.4 and 0.13%, respectively. Nevertheless, the regenerated plants were fertile and produced seeds. The T-0 plants, as well as the T-1 seedlings, displayed the activity in the beta-glucuronidase histochemical assay and a positive signal in PCR analysis for the presence of uidA gene sequences in their genomes. The data suggest that the transformation of wheat cv. Vesna with both Agrobacterium strains is feasible.