Transcriptional profiling of the leaves of near-isogenic rice lines with contrasting drought tolerance at the reproductive stage in response to water deficit.

Background Drought tolerance is a complex quantitative trait that involves the coordination of a vast array of genes belonging to different pathways. To identify genes related to the drought-tolerance pathway in rice, we carried out gene-expression profiling of the leaves of near-isogenic lines (NILs) with similar genetic backgrounds and different set of QTLs but contrasting drought tolerance levels in response to long-term drought-stress treatments. This work will help differentiate mechanisms of tolerance in contrasting NILs and accelerate molecular breeding programs to improve drought tolerance in this crop.