Drought stress affects cereals especially during the reproductive stage. The maize (Zea
mays) drought transcriptome was studied using RNA-Seq analysis to compare drought-
treated and well-watered fertilized ovary and basal leaf meristem tissue. More drought-
responsive genes responded in the ovary compared with the leaf meristem. Gene Ontology
enrichment analysis revealed a massive decrease in transcript abundance of cell division
and cell cycle genes in the drought-stressed ovary only. Among Gene Ontology categories …

Drought is a major environmental stress factor that poses a serious threat to food security.
The effects of drought on early reproductive tissue at 1-2 DAP (days after pollination) is
irreversible in nature and leads to embryo abortion, directly affecting the grain yield
production. We developed a working RNA-Seq pipeline to study maize (Zea mays) drought
transcriptome sequenced by Illumina GSIIx technology to compare drought treated and well-
watered fertilized ovary (1-2DAP) and basal leaf meristem tissue. The pipeline also …