番茄表皮毛基因Wo下游靶基因的筛选和功能鉴定

植物表皮毛是一种广泛存在的单细胞或多细胞结构，能够减少或抵御植食性昆虫的危害，同时也是研究植物细胞命运调控的模式系统。拟南芥表皮毛和棉花纤维作为典型的单细胞结构，均是由MYB-bHLH-WD40蛋白复合体调控下游基因的表达来实现的。番茄表皮毛为多细胞结构，具有不同的调控途径。本研究在前期成功克隆Wo基因并验证其表皮毛调控功能的基础上（已在PNAS和TAG上发表），构建Wo-FLAG融合表达载体转化番茄栽培种Ailsa Craig，进一步采用染色质免疫共沉淀-测序技术和生物信息学分析确定该基因下游靶基因位点，并结合Q-PCR和Wo基因相关材料的转录组数据确定与表皮毛形成密切相关的靶基因并进行功能验证，全面解析由其介导的表皮毛调控途径。本研究对于揭示多细胞表皮毛形成的调控机理，以及丰富植物细胞命运选择的分子机制具有十分重要的意义。

Plant trichomes are widely-existed unicellular or multicellular structures, which can decrease or resist the damage of plant-feeding insects and serve as an excellent model to study plant cell fate determination. Arabidopsis trichomes and cotton fibers are characterized by their unicellular forms, triggered by the MYB-bHLH-WD40 complex which regulates the expression of its downstream genes. Multicellular trichomes in tomato differentiate through a distinct regulatory pathway. We have previously cloned and characterized the Wo gene (published in PNAS and TAG). In this study, we will create a Wo-FLAG construct and transform it into tomato cultivar Ailsa Craig. And then we will analyze the downstream target sites of Wo using ChIP-seq and bioinformatic analysis. Combining with Q-PCR and transcriptional data of Wo-related materials, we will determine trichome closely related target genes, identify their function and comprehensively illustrate the regulatory pathway mediated by Wo. It is worthwhile to reveal the regulatory network of multicellular formation and enrich the molecular mechanism of plant cell fate choice.