Drought stress can induce autophagy in plant cells，and plants can remove some harmful substances through autophagy，with the result of increasing their drought resistance. In this study，droughtresistant wheat cultivars Pingmai 189 and Luohan 6 Hao，and drought-vulnerable wheat cultivars Linmai 2 Hao and Shannong Youmai 3 Hao were used as materials. It was found that under drought stress the expression of autophagy-related genes 6 and 8（ATG6，ATG8，autophagy related gene 6/8），the formation of ATG8-PE（phosphatidylethanolamine）and the number of autophagic vacuoles increased slowly in the drought-tolerant cultivars，but increased sharply first and then decreased in the drought-vulnerable cultivars，as detected through the use of lysosome fluorescence probe，Western blot，transmission electron microscope and other molecular biological techniques. The slow yet long-lasting autophagy response of the drought resistant wheat to drought stress slowed down the speed of the seedling wilting，while the fast yet short lasting autophagy response of the drought-vulnerable wheat to drought stress speeded up the seedling wilting. This study provides a theoretical basis for further elucidating the molecular mechanism of drought resistance，screening drought-resistant wheat germplasm resources and breeding new drought-resistant wheat