Gene gun method

The gene gun method is a transgenic method in which a microshell (gold or tungsten powder with a diameter of 1 μm) adsorbed with exogenous DNA is shot directly into the nucleus of the recipient cell with the help of the power generated by gunpowder, high-voltage discharge, or high-pressure gas and the integration of the exogenous genes into the genome of the recipient cell is realised. Since this method is not limited by crop genotypes as Agrobacterium-mediated method, and does not have difficulties in tissue culture and plant regeneration as other protoplast-based transgenic methods, it has been rapidly and widely used in various types of crop transgenic transformation since its birth in 1987.

In 1992, Vasil et al. obtained the world's first transgenic wheat plant by using the gene gun method, after which the gene gun method became an important method for genetic transformation of wheat. In 1994, Zhao Tianyong et al. reported the transgenic research of gene gun method with wheat stem tip meristem as the receptor, and in 1996, Xia Guangmin et al., Chen Lemei et al., Du Liqun et al. and Wang Xiaojun et al. also reported the transgenic research of wheat by gene gun method, after which, the research reports about transgenic wheat by gene gun method increased linearly with the speed of about 4 articles per year; in 1999, the research reports about transgenic wheat by gene gun method surged to 4 articles per year; in 1999, the research reports about transgenic wheat by gene gun method increased rapidly with the speed of about 1 article per year. In 1999, the number of research reports on GM wheat by the gene gun method soared to 12, and after 2003, the number of research reports was more than 10 each year, and there is an increasing trend. At present, more than 100 reports on wheat transgenesis by the gene gun method have been published in China, accounting for about 34% of the total number of reports on wheat transgenesis, and it has become the main transgenic method after the pollen tube passage method.