磷素是作物生产所必须的大量营养元素。磷素养分匮乏将影响水稻地上部株型：分蘖减少，叶夹角变小（俗称‘一炷香’），最终导致田间稻米产量下降。但外界磷素状况如何影响水稻株型的营养分子生理机制仍不清楚。因此，解析该机制不仅能够为构建水稻耐低磷优良株型品种的分子育种提供理论基础，也能为保障水稻大田生产过程中的磷素高效利用提供理论依据。利用反向遗传学的方法，本课题组通过对低磷胁迫抑制表达转录因子的功能分析，鉴定了一个OsMYB18基因。OsMYB18功能失活突变体在正常供磷条件下水稻叶片夹角变小，分蘖数减少。而该基因的过量表达能导致叶片的夹角增大，叶片无机磷积累。因此，本研究将围绕OsMYB18参与的磷素代谢与叶片角度调控体系，利用芯片分析系统、蛋白与DNA互作分析、以及养分生理实验，探讨OsMYB18参与水稻低磷胁迫下株型调控及磷素养分平衡的营养分子生理机制及其潜在应用前景。

Phosphorus is an essential macro nutrition for crop production. Under phosphorus deficient stress, the plant growth, tiller number and leaf angle in rice are significantly reduced, which lead to a dramatic reduction of yield in the field. However, the molecular mechanism of the modulation of shoot architecture by phosphorus availability in rice is still largely unclear. Therefore, the understanding of the mechanism will benefit not only for the molecular breeding of rice cultivars with super architecture for low phosphate tolerance, but also for the phosphate fertilization efficiency in the field. Previously, by characterizing the loss of function mutants for phosphate starvation repressed transcription factor, we have identified OsMYB18. The loss of function mutant for OsMYB18 displays erect-leaf and fewer tillers under normal phosphate condition. Comparing with the wild type, the OsMYB18 overexpressors display increased leaf angle with higher phosphate accumulation. Therefore, transcriptome analysis, DNA binding analysis and plant nutrition physiological analysis will be used to determine the molecular mechanism of OsMYB18 in the regulation of shoot architecture and phosphate homeostasis under the phosphate deficient stress in rice. The potential application of OsMYB18 for breeding low phosphate tolerance rice cultivars will also be determined.