Transgenic wheat plants resistant to herbicide BASTA obtained by microprojectile bombardment

Wheat (Triticum aestivum) transgenic plants of an important commercial cv (Oasis) was obtained with an efficient and short procedure. First, the optimum conditions for the embriogenic calli generation from inmature embryos with a high regeneration percentage were established. The transformation of calli was performed by high velocity microprojectile bombardment, using the pAHC25 plasmid, which contains the reporter gene P-glucuronidase (GUS) and the selectable BAR gene which confers resistance to the herbicide Basta. The transformations were confirmed by P-glucuronidase assay activity, PCR and Southern blot analysis. The efficiency of this procedure was high and similar to other reports in which "model" cultivar was used.