Phosphorus is one of the three essential macroelements for plant growth. Plants respond to phosphorus starvation through adaptive mechanisms involved in morphological, biochemical and molecular changes. To investigate the molecular background of the adaptive mechanisms, the suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) method was used to construct a rice phosphorus-starvation ( Pi-starvation) induced cDNA library. Through screening of the cDNA library and sequencing of the enriched cDNAs, 18 known genes and 47 novel genes were identified. The known genes are involved in different metabolic processes, including phosphate uptake and transport, signal transduction, protein synthesis and degradation, carbon metabolism and stress response. Northern analysis was performed to detect the expression patterns of some known genes and novel genes under different phosphorus levels. Different expression patterns of the selected genes were identified, which suggests that genes involved in different pathways may have different responses to Pi-starvation.
