Sclerotinia sclerotiorum引起植物菌核病，是世界上最具毁灭性和分布最广泛的植物病原物之一。植物抗S. sclerotiorum分子调控机理还不很清楚。RNA沉默是植物抗病毒和细菌的重要调控机理，但对真菌病害的调控功能还不明确。本项目拟利用突变体材料，采用转基因、VIGS和组学技术，研究明确RNA沉默核心因子AGO基因家族对S. sclerotiorum抗性的调控功能，鉴定抗性调控miRNA，及受AGO调控的抗性调控因子，揭示其抗病调控途径和机理，明确RNA沉默在调控S. sclerotiorum抗性中的作用，为RNA沉默调控真菌病害抗性提供一个范例，增进对RNA沉默生物学意义的认识，有力促进对菌核病和其他真菌病害抗性调控机理的理解。应用上将拓宽用于抗菌核病和其他真菌病害新种质创制的基因资源范围，拓展菌核病和其他真菌病害的控制策略研究思路。

Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, causing plant white mould disease, is one of the most devastating and widely distributed pathogens in the world. The molecular regulatory mechanism of plant resistance to S. sclerotiorum is still largely unknown. RNA silencing is an important regulatory mechanism of plant protection against virus and bacterium, but it is not clear whether this is also the case for fungal disease resistance. This project aims to use mutants and employ gene transformation, VIGS and omics technologies, to dissect the function of AGO gene family as the core component of RNA silencing in regulating resistance to S. sclerotiorum, identify miRNA and AGO-regulated components that are involved in resistance regulation, thereby reveal the pathway and mechanism of regulating this resistance, and unveil the role of RNA silencing in regulating resistance to S. sclerotiorum, and thus provide an example that RNA silencing regulates fungal disease resistance. This should improve understanding of the biological meaning of RNA silencing, and provide some insights into the regulatory mechanism of disease resistance to S. sclerotiorum and other fungi. Meanwhile, from view of application, the obtained results will widen the gene resource required for creation of new germplasm resources for white mould and other fungal resistance breeding, and provide new consideration to seek for strategies to control white mould and other fungal diseases.