Spatial transcriptomes of iron-deficient and cadmium-stressed rice

Several metals are essential nutrients for plants but metals are toxic in excess, deleteriously affecting crop yield and quality. Various kinds of genes involved in metal homeostasis have been investigated in detail over the past few decades and the mechanisms of how metals are absorbed from soil and distributed in plants have been elucidated. However, numerous genes related to metal homeostasis remain to be investigated and a comprehensive analysis of the expressions of these genes is required. In the present study, we investigated the spatial gene expression profile of iron (Fe)-deficient and cadmium (Cd)-stressed rice by a combination of laser capture microdissection and microarray analysis. We performed comprehensive microarray analysis of a rice root using laser microdissection and collected a total of 13 samples (3 replicates for each sample, 39 total microarray data). Roots of normal, Fe-deficient (-Fe) and Cd-stressed (+Cd) rice were separated into the vascular bundle (VB), cortex (Cor), and epidermis plus exodermis (EP). In addition, vascular bundles from new leaves (newDC) and old leaves (oldDC) at the lowest node, which are important for metal distribution, were separately analyzed.