Transcriptome Analysis for Abiotic Stresses in Rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Rice, a model monocot system, belongs to the family Poaceae and genus Oryza. Rice is the second largest produced cereal and staple food crop fulfilling the demand of half the world’s population. Though rice demand is growing exponentially, its production is severely affected by variable environmental changes. The various abiotic factors drastically reduce the rice plant growth and yield by affecting its different growth stages. To fulfill the growing demand of rice, it is imperative to understand its molecular responses during stresses and to develop new varieties to overcome the stresses. Earlier, the microarray experiments have been used for the identification of coexpressive gene networks during various conditions in crop plants. Though the microarray experiments provided very useful information, the unviability of genome-wide information did not provide complete information about the regulatory gene networks involved in the stress response. The advancement of molecular techniques provided breakthrough to understanding the complex regulatory gene networks and their signaling pathways during stresses. The high-throughput RNA sequencing data have opened the floodgate of transcriptome data in rice. Here we have summarized some of the transcriptome data for abiotic molecular responses in rice, which further help to understand their complex regulatory mechanism.