Comparative transcript profiling of alloplasmic male-sterile lines revealed altered gene expression related to pollen development in rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Using microarray, the anther transcript profiles of the three indica rice CMS lines revealed 622 differentially expression genes (DEGs) in each of the three CMS lines. GO and Mapman analysis indicated that these DEGs were mainly involved in lipid metabolic and cell wall organization. Comprised with the gene expression of sporophytic and gametophytic CMS lines, 303 DEGs were differentially expressed and 56 of them were down-regulated in all the CMS lines. Co-expression network analysis suggested that many genes were significantly differentially expressed in the CMS lines. These down-regulated DEGs in the CMS lines were found to be involved in tapetum or cell wall formation and their suppressed expression might be related to male sterility. The present study will give some information for the nuclear gene regulation by different cytoplasmic genotypes and provide some candidate genes for pollen development in rice.

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Hu J, Chen G, Zhang H, Qian Q, Ding Y