Sel’skokhozyaistvennaya Biologiya [Agricultural Biology], 2011, № 5, p. 40-44 UDC 633.111.1:581.142:631.52:577.21:57.08 ABOUT POSSIBLE USE OF Agropyron Vp-1 (Viviparous-1) GENS- HOMOLOG FOR IMPROVEMENT OF SOFT WHEAT 1 Russian State Agrarian University - Moscow Timiryazev Agricultural Academy, Moscow 127550, Russia e-mail: divashuk@gmail.com; M.G. Divashuk1, P.Yu. <...> The variant of wheat-agropyron hybrid № 209 was revealed, which contain the Viviparous-1 gen from Agropyron. <...> It was shown, that this variant has higher resistance to root sprouting, than other studied variants of wheat-agropyron hybrids. <...> The isolated variant may be used as donor of Viviparous-1 gene of Agropyron for its introgression to soft wheat genome thought suggested molecular marker. <...> In many countries including Russia, pre-harvest sprouting of grain is a serious problem that strongly limits increase of wheat production today. <...> Seed germination at the root significantly worsens grain quality and, consequently, economical efficiency of its production (1). <...> Germination occurs as the result of dormancy violations in immature seeds, which leads to the activation of physiological processes and early embryo growth. <...> Dormancy of seeds is provided by a combination of many factors: the balance of abscisic and gibberelic acids, -amylase activity, the presence in glumes and seed shell of water-soluble inhibitors of germination, ear architectonics (2-4). <...> During the evolution, wild species developed dormancy as the mechanism to avoid unfavorable factors and intraspecific competition. <...> The selection of cultivated crops was aimed at simultaneous and fast germination of seeds, which has led to their increased sensitivity to the factors provoking violation of dormancy (5). <...> An important step in studying the phenomenon of seed germination (and its particular case - pre-harvest sprouting) in cereals is associated with cloning Viviparous-1 genes. <...> The gene Viviparous-1 (Vp-1) was found to control late embryogenesis in cereals (6) and perform two functions: providing embryo maturation and regulation of seed transition to dormancy by suppressing germination. <...> The analysis and cloning of Vp-1 genes have shown that they encode in cereals the transcription factors intensely expressed in developing embryos of seeds (6-8). <...> The structure and expression of three homologous Vp-1 genes of soft wheat were studied, which revealed that each of them can encode <...>