title: Development of transgenic wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) expressing avidin gene conferring resistance to stored product insects.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Wheat is considered the most important cereal crop all over the world. The wheat weevil Sitophilus granarius is a serious insect pests in much of the wheat growing area worldwide and is responsible for significant loss of yield. Avidin proteins has been proposed to function as plant defense agents against insect pests.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A synthetic avidin gene was introduced into spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cv. Giza 168 using a biolistic bombardment protocol. The presence and expression of the transgene in six selected T0 transgenic wheat lines were confirmed at the molecular level. Accumulation of avidin protein was detected in transgenic plants compared to non-transgenic plants. Avidin transgene was stably integrated, transcribed and translated as indicated by Southern blot, ELISA, and dot blot analyses, with a high level of expression in transgenic wheat seeds. However, no expression was detected in untransformed wheat seeds. Functional integrity of avidin was confirmed by insect bioassay. The results of bioassay using transgenic wheat plants challenged with wheat weevil revealed 100 % mortality of the insects reared on transgenic plants after 21 days.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Transgenic wheat plants had improved resistance to Sitophilus granarius.
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. heba_1st@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Heba H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Abouseadaa
authors.affiliation: Agricultural Genetic Engineering Research Institute (AGERI), Agriculture Research Center (ARC), Giza, 12619, Egypt. gamalhosman@yahoo.com.|Department of Biology, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Umm Al Qura University, Makkah, 21955, Saudi Arabia. gamalhosman@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Gamal H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Osman
authors.affiliation: Agricultural Genetic Engineering Research Institute (AGERI), Agriculture Research Center (ARC), Giza, 12619, Egypt. ahmedramadan782@yahoo.com.|Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Jeddah, 80203, Saudi Arabia. ahmedramadan782@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Ahmed M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Ramadan
authors.affiliation: Agricultural Genetic Engineering Research Institute (AGERI), Agriculture Research Center (ARC), Giza, 12619, Egypt. samehei@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Sameh E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Hassanein
authors.affiliation: Agricultural Genetic Engineering Research Institute (AGERI), Agriculture Research Center (ARC), Giza, 12619, Egypt. mteima81@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Mohamed T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Abdelsattar
authors.affiliation: Agricultural Genetic Engineering Research Institute (AGERI), Agriculture Research Center (ARC), Giza, 12619, Egypt. newyasso@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Yasser B
authors.initials: YB
authors.lastname: Morsy
authors.affiliation: Agricultural Genetic Engineering Research Institute (AGERI), Agriculture Research Center (ARC), Giza, 12619, Egypt. hussien@msu.edu.|Plant Soil and Microbial Sciences Department, Michigan state University, East Lansing, M9, 48824, USA. hussien@msu.edu.
authors.forename: Hussien F
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Alameldin
authors.affiliation: Agricultural Genetic Engineering Research Institute (AGERI), Agriculture Research Center (ARC), Giza, 12619, Egypt. doaa_k2001@yahoo.com.|Department of Biology, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Umm Al Qura University, Makkah, 21955, Saudi Arabia. doaa_k2001@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Doaa K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: El-Ghareeb
authors.affiliation: Agricultural Genetic Engineering Research Institute (AGERI), Agriculture Research Center (ARC), Giza, 12619, Egypt. hanannour@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Hanan A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Nour-Eldin
authors.affiliation: Agricultural Genetic Engineering Research Institute (AGERI), Agriculture Research Center (ARC), Giza, 12619, Egypt. redasalem80@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Reda
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Salem
authors.affiliation: Agricultural Genetic Engineering Research Institute (AGERI), Agriculture Research Center (ARC), Giza, 12619, Egypt. aabdurrady@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Adel A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Gad
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. osmangamal@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Soheir E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Elkhodary
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. mshehata84@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Maher M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Shehata
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. hala.mahfouz@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Hala M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Mahfouz
authors.affiliation: Agricultural Genetic Engineering Research Institute (AGERI), Agriculture Research Center (ARC), Giza, 12619, Egypt. halaeissa@yahoo.com.|College of Biotechnology, Misr University of Science and technology, Giza, Egypt. halaeissa@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Hala F
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Eissa
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Jeddah, 80203, Saudi Arabia. bahieldin55@gmail.com.|Department of Genetics, Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. bahieldin55@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ahmed
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bahieldin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D030161:Avian Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D001360:Avidin / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D015870:Gene Expression; D007300:Insect Control; D010572:Pest Control, Biological; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D014908:Triticum / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D048889:Weevils
chemical_list: D030161:Avian Proteins; D001360:Avidin