Exploration of Rapid Generation Advancement Models and Genetic Transformation Efficiency in Xinjiang Spring Wheat Cultivars

INTRODUCTION: Global climate change and soil degradation have posed new challenges to the breeding efficiency of wheat (Triticum aestivum). Traditional breeding cycles are lengthy and inefficient, making it difficult to meet the ever-growing demand for breeding new cultivars adapting to the changing environment. As a major high-quality wheat producing region in China, Xinjiang urgently needs to establish a rapid generation-advancement system and an efficient genetic transformation platform tailored to its local cultivars, in order to shorten breeding cycles and expand the range of transgenic recipient materials. RATIONALE: Accelerating generation turnover and establishing efficient transformation protocols are critical bottlenecks in wheat functional genomics research and breeding. Conventional greenhouse conditions impose long generation times, while transformation efficiency varies greatly and is often unacceptably low in many elite cultivars. This study was designed to systematically evaluate whether controlled artificial climate chamber conditions could significantly shorten the lifecycle of key Xinjiang wheat cultivars, and to assess the Agrobacterium-mediated transformation efficiency of their immature embryos. The goal was to identify cultivars with both a shortened generation time and satisfactory transformation capability, thereby facilitating their use in genetic research and speed breeding applications. RESULTS: Under artificial climate chamber conditions compared to conventional greenhouse conditions, all five wheat cultivars showed a significant reduction in generation time. Xinchun37 exhibited the greatest reduction, shortening its life cycle from 92 days to 59 days; in Agrobacterium-mediated embryo transformation assays, Xinchun37 achieved a transformation efficiency of 23.30%, outperforming the other three Xinjiang cultivars but remaining lower than the Fielder control. Xinchun 9, Xinchun44, and Hechun137 also demonstrated measurable transformation efficiencies. CONCLUSION: This study successfully established a novel rapid generation-advancement system for the main wheat cultivars of Xinjiang, and increased their embryonic genetic transformation efficiency. These methods will greatly shorten breeding cycles and provide key technological support for expanding the selection of transgenic recipient materials, thereby contributing to germplasm innovation and food-security strategies in Xinjiang and beyond.