硝态氮是大多粮食作物的主要氮源，理解作物的硝信号对提高氮肥利用效率有着重要的价值。先前我们在小麦中克隆了一个受硝诱导的基因TaNAC2-5A，染色质免疫共沉淀实验分析发现该基因编码的蛋白直接与硝转运蛋白、谷氨酰胺合成酶基因的启动子结合，参与了硝信号的传递。在小麦中超量表达TaNAC2-5A可以促进根系生长、提高根系的吸硝速率以及小麦的氮素利用效率和籽粒产量。近来我们的研究发现TaNAC2在蛋白水平上也受硝诱导，利用酵母双杂文库我们筛选到了一个具有Ring domain的TaNAC2-5A的互作蛋白TaNIP1-3B，本项目拟在小麦中解析TaNIP1-3B调控TaNAC2-5A响应硝信号的机制，并筛选TaNIP1-3B的优良等位变异，为选育养分高效的粮食作物提供新的基因资源。

Nitrate is a major nitrogen resource for cereal crops, thus understanding nitrate signaling in cereal crops is valuable for engineering crops with improved nitrogen use efficiency.We isolated a nitrate-inducible and cereal-specific NAC transcription factor TaNAC2-5A from wheat (Triticum aestivum).Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay showed that TaNAC2-5A could directly bind to the promoter regions of the genes encoding nitrate transporter and glutamine synthetase. These results suggested that TaNAC2-5A is involved in nitrate signaling. Overexpression of TaNAC2-5A in wheat enhanced root growth and nitrate influx rate, and hence increase root ability to acquire nitrogen. Further, we found that TaNAC2-5A-overexpressing transgenic wheat lines had higher grain yield and higher N use efficiency (NUE) . Recently our research found protein expression of TaNAC2 can be increased by nitrate treatment.To investigate TaNAC2 action, we identified a TaNIP1-3B with a C3H2C3 RING domain using yeast two-hybrid assays. The project will analyze the mechanism of that TaNIP1-3B regulating the response of TaNAC2-5A to nitrate signals, identify the excellent allelic variation of TaNIP1-3B in different wheat varieties through association analysis, and provide new gene resources for breeding of nutrient high-efficient crops.