Transcriptome analysis reveals photoperiod-associated genes expressed in rice anthers

Environmental conditions, such as photoperiod and temperature, can affect male fertility in plants. While this feature is heavily exploited in rice to generate male-sterile lines for hybrid breeding, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain largely unknown. In this study, we use a transcriptomics approach to identify key genes and regulatory networks affecting pollen maturation in rice anthers in response to different day lengths.This work provides a new understanding on photoperiodsensitive pollen development in rice, and our gene expression database will provide a new, comprehensive resource to identify new environmentally sensitive genes regulating male fertility for use in crop improvement. Overall design: the mitosis stages I anther were collected at 08:00,12:00,16:00,20:00,00:00, 04:00 in sort-day(12 hours light) and long-day(14 hours dark) condition., each sample have two biological replicates.