Developing transgenic wheat to encounter rusts and powdery mildew by overexpressing barley chi26 gene for fungal resistance

Background The main aim of this study was to improve fungal resistance in bread wheat via transgenesis. Transgenic wheat plants harboring barley chitinase (chi26) gene, driven by maize ubi promoter, were obtained using biolistic bombardment, whereas the herbicide resistance gene, bar, driven by the CaMV 35S promoter was used as a selectable marker.