RNA-seq analysis of developing rice seeds under combined heat and drought stress

A heat and drought tolerant rice cultivar (N22) was grown in the field under control and drought conditions during the dry season in 2013. Drought was applied during early grain filling and resulted in simultaneous heat stress, leading to reduced grain yield and quality. Total RNA was extracted from developing seeds under stress and control (fully flooded) conditions and RNA-seq analysis was performed. These samples are a part of a bigger experiment analysing the responses of three contrasting rice cultivars (N22, Dular, Anjali) to combined heat and drought stress including different organs (developing seeds, flag leaves, flowering spikelets) and developmental stages (early grain filling, flowering) at the transcriptomic level. Investigation of mRNA profiles of developing seeds for the rice cultivar N22 during early grain filling under control and combined heat and drought stress in the field with three replicates per treatment