Project Number: 5442-21000-029-00
Project Type: Appropriated

Start Date: Jul 24, 2003
End Date: Jul 23, 2008

Objective:
The goals of this research project are to assess genomic relationships in cultivated wheats, both bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L., 2n = 6x = 42; AABBDD) and durum wheat (T. turgidum L., 2n = 4x = 28; AABB), and between wheat and related species and to bring about enhancement of germplasm of wheat, particularly durum wheat. Production of Fusarium head blight (FHB)-resistant germplasm will be an important aspect of durum germplasm enhancement. Using the transgenic technology via microprojection we standardized earlier, we plan to incorporate antifungal genes into commercial durum cultivars. Thus, we will apply both classical and transgenic tools to produce FHB-resistant durum germplasm.

Approach:
Alien gene transfer into wheat will be carried out by tools of classical cytogenetics as well as modern biotechnology. The cytogenetic techniques will involve sexual hybridization between wheat cultivars and wild grasses coupled with manipulation of pairing among chromosomes of parental species. This approach will facilitate transfer of alien chromatin into the wheat genome, which will be characterized using fluorescent genomic in situ hybridization. The biotechnological approach will involve incorporating alien DNA into regenerable scutellum-derived callus of commercial durum wheat cultivars using microprojectile bombardment. After refining the in vitro regeneration protocol for commercial durum cultivars, we will use the transgenic technology standardized earlier to incorporate antifungal genes, including Tri101, PDR5, and thaumatin-like protein genes. We will use constructs where the genes are under the control of ubiquitin promoter.