Gene Expression Profiling during Male Gametophyte Development in Rice

To investigate the potential function of miRNAs during male gametogenesis in rice, we first obtained gene expression profiles by using Affymetrix microarray technologies. In genome-scale, we found a common characteristic shared by rice and Arabidopsis, which vast of genes are down regulated from Pb to Pc stage. next, a total of 13363 genes were detected during the gametophyte development in rice, which contains 2925 pollen-enriched/-specific genes including 107 transcription factors. We also analyzed the microarray-based expression patterns of genes in miRNA pathways, and found 3 pollen-specific AGO genes (AGO12, AGO13 and AGO17). This subseries contains three datasets of gene expression in pollen development stages: uninucleate microspore (UNM/Pa), bicellular pollen (BCP/Pb) and tricellular pollen (TCP/Pc)