Mutagenesis and retrotransposons have a close relationship, but little attention has been paid yet to the activity of retrotransposons produced by physical mutagens. The variation of retrotransposon WIS 2-1A activity in wheat （Triticum aestivum L.） embryos at three different growth times （30 h, 45 h and 60 h） was investigated after they had been treated with N^＋ implantation in a vacuum of 5× 10^-2 Pa and irradiation by ^60Coγ-ray respectively. For each of the three growth times the expression of WIS 2-1A showed almost entirely a same trend of downregulation, upregulation, then downregulation, and upregulation again with the increase in dose of N^＋ implantation, but the expression appeared irregular with the increase in irradiation of ^60Coγ-ray. In conclusion, the acutely activating effect of WIS 2-1A stimulated by vacuum and high dose N^＋ implantation within a shorter incubation time may provide a convenient tool to advance the research on mutagenic breeding and function genes.
