| Summary: | Wheat (<i>Triticum aestivum</i> L.) is an important staple crop. Sharp eyespot and common root rot are destructive diseases of wheat. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are small peptides with broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity. In this study, we synthesized the <i>DmAMP1W</i> gene, encoding <i>Dahlia merckii</i> DmAMP1, and investigated the antifungal role of DmAMP1W in vitro and in transgenic wheat. Protein electrophoresis analysis and in vitro inhibition results demonstrated that the synthesized <i>DmAMP1W</i> correctly translated to the expected peptide DmAMP1W, and the purified peptide inhibited growths of the fungi <i>Rhizoctonia cerealis</i> and <i>Bipolaris sorokiniana</i>, the pathogenic causes of wheat sharp eyespot and common root rot. <i>DmAMP1W</i> was introduced into a wheat variety Zhoumai18 via <i>Agrobacterium</i>-mediated transformation. The molecular characteristics indicated that <i>DmAMP1W</i> could be heritable and expressed in five transgenic wheat lines in T<sub>1</sub>−T<sub>2</sub> generations. Average sharp eyespot infection types of these five <i>DmAMP1W</i> transgenic wheat lines in T<sub>1</sub>−T<sub>2</sub> generations decreased 0.69−1.54 and 0.40−0.82 compared with non-transformed Zhoumai18, respectively. Average common root rot infection types of these transgenic lines and non-transformed Zhoumai18 were 1.23−1.48 and 2.27, respectively. These results indicated that DmAMP1W-expressing transgenic wheat lines displayed enhanced-resistance to both sharp eyespot and common root rot. This study provides new broad-spectrum antifungal resources for wheat breeding.
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