Isolation and expression analysis of salt up-regulated ESTs in upland rice using PCR-based subtractive suppression hybridization method

Salt stress adversely affects the growth, development, and production of rice plants. To understand the molecular basis of salt stress response, the salt tolerant upland rice variety IAPAR 9 was used to identify the genes differentially expressed in NaCl-treated roots and non-treated ones by subtractive suppression hybridization method. After subtraction the cDNA fragments were cloned and a total of 94 unique clones were identified which were up-regulated under salt stress. Database search of the sequenced clones showed that 31 unique clones were homologous to stress response genes reported previously. The expression patterns of several clones have been further analyzed via Northern blot, suggesting that some of them may be involved in stress responses.