Drought is one of the detrimental factors that impair plant growth and productivity. In this study, we applied annealing control primer (ACP)-based reverse transcriptase PCR (polymerase chain reaction) technique to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in maize leaves in response to drought stress. Two-week-old maize seedlings were exposed to drought (DT) by suspending water supply. DEGs were screened after 3 days of DT-treated samples using the ACP-based technique. Several DEGs encoding 16.9 protein, antimicrobial protein, hypothetical protein NCLIV_068840, thioredoxin M-type were identified in maize leaves under drought stress. These genes have putative functions in plant defense response, growth and development. These identified genes would be useful for predictive markers of plant defense, and growth responses under drought stress in plants.

• Md. Atikur Rahman(Grassland & Forages Division, National Institute of Animal Science, Rural Development Administration)
• Sang-Hoon Lee(Grassland & Forages Division, National Institute of Animal Science, Rural Development Administration)
• Gi Jun Choi(Grassland & Forages Division, National Institute of Animal Science, Rural Development Administration)
• Hee Jung Ji(Grassland & Forages Division, National Institute of Animal Science, Rural Development Administration)
• Won Ho Kim(Grassland & Forages Division, National Institute of Animal Science, Rural Development Administration)
• Ki-Won Lee(Grassland & Forages Division, National Institute of Animal Science, Rural Development Administration) Corresponding author