Epicuticular wax serves as an interface with the environment and thus plays an important role in the resistance to various biotic and abiotic stresses. Previously, we identified the wax-deficient mutant w5, and GC–MS profiling showed that β-diketone biosynthesis was completely blocked and the content of some other components also decreased significantly in the w5 mutant. In the present study, comparative transcriptome profile of the flag-leaf sheath between the w5 mutant and its wild type was performed, and the expression patterns of differentially expressed genes in wax metabolism pathway were analyzed. The results showed that a total of 767 differentially expressed genes were identified and they were mainly enriched in wax biosynthesis and transportation pathways by Gene Ontology (GO) analyses. Further analysis showed that the expressions of epicuticular wax metabolism-related genes were almost significantly downregulated, which might contribute to the dramatic decrease of the epicuticular wax content in the w5 mutant. Here, our study delineated a transcriptional landscape of the wax metabolism regulatory genes in the w5 mutant and paved a way for further exploring the molecular mechanisms of epicuticular wax metabolism in wheat.

表皮蜡作为与环境的界面，因此在抵抗各种生物和非生物胁迫方面起着重要作用。以前，我们确定了蜡缺陷型突变W5，和GC-MS分析]表明，β二酮生物合成完全被阻断和其他一些成分的含量也在显著降低W5突变体。在本研究中，w5之间旗叶鞘的比较转录组谱对突变体及其野生型进行了分析，分析了蜡代谢途径中差异表达基因的表达模式。结果表明，通过基因本体论（GO）分析，共鉴定出767个差异表达基因，它们主要富集在蜡生物合成和运输途径中。进一步分析表明，表皮蜡代谢相关基因的表达几乎显着下调，这可能有助于w5突变体中表皮蜡含量的急剧下降。在这里，我们的研究描绘了w5突变体中蜡代谢调控基因的转录图谱，并为进一步探索小麦表皮蜡代谢的分子机制铺平了道路。