Expression And Inheritance Of Snowdrop Lectin Gene In Transgenic Wheat

Galanthus navalis agglutinin (GNA) from the bulb of sonowdrop of Amaryllidaceae has great resistance to Homoptera pests, by inhibiting their growth and fecundity. Aphids belonging to the order Homoptera is one the most important pests in wheat production. New aphids resistant wheat varieties can be obtained by transferring GNA into Chinese wheat cultivars, which will be of great interest in practice.In this study, sgna, a synthesized gene of GNA, was transferred to wheat cultivars Jing411, Yangmai l58 and Zhengzhou9405 mediated by biolistic system. PCR or dot-blot analysis was performed on the transgenic plants and their progeny plants. So far 34 T3 plants of transgenic Yanmail58, 94 T2 plants of transgenic Zhengzhou 9405 and 3 TS lines of transgenic Jing411 have been obtained.Aphids bioassays on TI plants of tansgenic Yanmail58 demonstrated that the expression of sgna significantly reduced the fecundity of aphids. Investigation of agronomic properties of TI plants of tansgenic Yanmail58 indicated that variation occurred on transgenic plants due to the introduction of sgna into wheat genome. And some of the variation reached a significant level. The inheritance of sgna gene in transgenic Yangmail58 and its progeny plants did not accord with Mendel's law.RT-PCR analysis of TI transgenic Zhengzhou 9405 showed transgenic silencing in some plants.Southern blot analysis on TS and TS line of transgenic Jing411 confirmed the multi-copy integration pattern of sgna gene. Results also demonstrated a similar integration pattern between the two lines, suggesting that the integration pattern could be inherited to the progeny plants.