Changes in the Rice Transcriptome Under Abiotic Stress Responses

Iron, cold and salinity are major stresses affecting rice cultivation in Southern Brazil and in other areas worldwide. The investigation of genes associated to specific stress responses can be masked by a large number of genes presenting a unespecific response. Our research group has been investigating genes involved in iron homeostasis through microarray and RNA seq experiments, confirming the involvement of these genes in the rice responses to iron excess and other abiotic stresses. ERF and WRKY TFs as well as novel genes, protein interactions, changes in splicing and regulatory regions present in promoter and retrotransposon LTR regions are helping to build the picture of iron homeostasis, salinity and cold tolerance in rice.