小麦纹枯病是危害小麦生产的重要土传病害，难以防治。分离、鉴定抗性重要基因、理解其作用机制，能极大促进小麦抗病育种进程。在前期研究中，我们通过转录组学分析，从抗性小麦中分离、鉴定得到一个新型GATA转录因子基因TaGATA1。基因沉默和转基因过表达实验显示，TaGATA1是调控小麦纹枯病抗性反应的重要基因。本研究旨在解析TaGATA1调控小麦防御反应的分子机制，同时分析其对抗性反应的遗传贡献率。本申请拟在前期研究的基础上，采用多学科研究方法，鉴定TaGATA1直接调控的下游靶标基因，分离抗性反应中的调控互作蛋白，明确调控抗病反应的信号通路，解析调控下游反应的作用机制。同时，利用不同抗、感小麦材料和遗传群体，挖掘优异等位变异，分析对抗性反应的遗传贡献率。这些工作将进一步揭示小麦对纹枯病抗性反应的网络机制，为小麦抗纹枯病育种提供基因资源和理论依据。

Sharp eyespot, caused by the soil-borne fungus Rhizoctonia cerealis, has escalated into a major threat to wheat production. Characterization of pivotal genes regulating wheat defense responses will accelerate the progress of wheat resistance breeding. Based on transcriptome analysis, a novel GATA transcriptional factor-coding gene, named TaGATA1, was isolated from resistant wheat line CI12633. Both of VIGS assay and overexpression in wheat indicated that TaGATA1 plays key role in regulating wheat resistance to sharp eyespot. However, mechanism by which TaGATA1 modulates defense responsesin wheat was unknown. The main aim of this proposal is to elucidate the functional role and molecular mechanism of TaGATA1 in wheat defense responses. We will use genetics, molecular biology, biochemical and bioinformatics to 1) mine the novel allele and develop and validate the functional molecular markers of TaGATA1 in various wheat cultivars/lines and RIL population, 2) identify the down-stream targeting genes via ChIP-seq and transactive analysis, 3) isolate and identify TaGATA1 co-regulator protein in vivo through CoIP assay, and to characterize the key residues and domains in TaGATA1. Therefore, this potential project will elucidate a novel defense signaling pathway to sharp eyespot in wheat, which benefit for the dissecting of gene network in wheat defense to sharp eyespot and for proving wheat resistance breeding.