 Abstract background rice is highly sensitive to drought and the effect of drought may vary with the different genotypes and development stages. To better understand how rice plants respond to drought, researchers used genome-wide gene expression profiling to identify genes that are differentially expressed when exposed to drought stress. They found that many of the genes that are affected by drought are regulated in a specific tissue or developmental stage. Additionally, they discovered a CIS element containing a special CGCG box that is over-represented in the upstream regions of 55 common induced genes. This element may play an important role in rice plants' response to drought conditions. This article was authored by Fou Bining, Zhu Linghua, Zhao Xiuqin, and others.