Analysis of Allelic Imbalance in Rice Hybrids Under Water Stress and Association of Asymmetrically Expressed Genes with Drought-Response QTLs

Background Information on the effect of stress on the allele-specific expression (ASE) profile of rice hybrids is limited. More so, the association of allelically imbalanced genes to important traits is yet to be understood. Here we assessed allelic imbalance (AI) in the heterozygote state of rice under non- and water-stress treatments and determined association of asymmetrically expressed genes with grain yield (GY) under drought stress by in-silico co-localization analysis and selective genotyping. The genotypes IR64, Apo and their F1 hybrid (IR64 × Apo) were grown under normal and water-limiting conditions. We sequenced the total RNA transcripts for all genotypes then reconstructed the two chromosomes in the heterozygote.