A global analysis of QTLs for expression variations in rice flag leaf at heading date

Analyses of QTLs for expression levels (eQTLs) of the genes reveal genetic relationship between expression variation and the regulator, thus unlocking the information for identifying the regulatory network. In this study, we used Affymetrix GeneChip Rice Genome Array to analyze eQTLs in rice flag leaf at heading date from 210 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from a cross between Zhenshan 97 and Minghui 63. In the study, we attempted to construct the regulatory network by identifying putative regulators and the respective targets using an eQTL guided co-expression analysis with a recombinant inbred line population of rice. The ability to reveal the regulatory architecture of the genes at the whole genome level by constructing the regulatory network is critical for understanding the biological processes and developmental programs of the organism. Here we conducted an eQTL guided function-related co-expression analysis for identifying the putative regulators and constructing gene regulatory network. The Affymetrix Genechip rice Genome Array was used to investigate their dynamic transcript levels. one replicates were sampled from each RIL, three for parents, and three replicates for each parent resulting in a dataset of 216 microarrays.