Current Research Trends of Wheat Transformation and Biotechnology

Abstract

Wheat is one of the world's top three crops and is an important staple crop, accounting for 20% of the nutrient calories consumed by the world’s population. However, due to its complex heterogeneous hexaploid chromosomes and vast genome of approximately 16 Gb, compared to those of other crops, molecular biology and biotechnology studies on wheat are lacking. In recent years, wheat genome analysis has been performed using the latest next-generation sequencing technology so that useful genes can be easily obtained, and wheat biotechnology research is accelerating in various fields. In this review, wheat transformation, an indispensable technique for developing new functional biotech wheat by revealing the function of wheat genes, is described in detail. In addition, the latest research results for overcoming plant diseases, abiotic stresses, and wheat-related diseases that are difficult to solve by classical breeding through wheat transformation and biotechnology are described.