The ascomycete Fusarium graminearum (anamorph Gibberella zeae) is a destructive fungal pathogen for cereals such as wheat.With the tools of laser capture microdissection and Fusarium graminearum Affymetrix GeneChip, we monitored the global gene expression of Fusarium graminearum in a stage-specific manner when it grows inside of wheat coleoptiles.Detailed analysis showed that the gene expression patterns, along with fungal and plant cell morphological features, indicate at least four stages (early, fast-growing,destructing and sporulating, respectively) can be distinguished during Fusarium graminearum infection of wheat coleoptiles.The gene expression patterns of putative plant cell wall-degrading enzymes, fungal cell wall-modification enzymes, nutrition transporters,extracellular reactive oxygen species-producing and-scavenging, toxin-like proteins,secondary metabolites synthesis-related proteins suggest distinct necrotrophic strategies at different stages.Functional analysis of some in planta preferential genes of Fusarium graminearum showed that they might be required for virulence.