An in planta biolistic method for stable wheat transformation

The currently favoured method for wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) transformation is inapplicable to many elite cultivars because it requires callus culture and regeneration. Here, we developed a simple, reproducible, in planta wheat transformation method using biolistic DNA delivery without callus culture or regeneration. Shoot apical meristems (SAMs) grown from dry imbibed seeds were exposed under a microscope and subjected to bombardment with different-sized gold particles coated with the GFP gene construct, introducing DNA into the L2 cell layer. Bombarded embryos were grown to mature, stably transformed T(0) plants and integration of the GFP gene into the genome was determined at the fifth leaf. Use of 0.6-µm particles and 1350-psi pressure resulted in dramatically increased maximum ratios of transient GFP expression in SAMs and transgene integration in the fifth leaf. The transgene was integrated into the germ cells of 62% of transformants, and was therefore inherited in the next generation. We successfully transformed the model wheat cultivar ‘Fielder’, as well as the recalcitrant Japanese elite cultivar ‘Haruyokoi’. Our method could potentially be used to generate stable transgenic lines for a wide range of commercial wheat cultivars.