Small RNA sequencing datasets from caryopses and flag leaves of multiple rice genotypes exposed to high nighttime temperature stress

The increasing frequency and severity of High Nighttime Temperature (HNT) threatens to damage rice quality by inducing the chalky grain phenotype. To better understand the roles that small RNAs (sRNAs) play in HNT-induced chalkiness in rice, we sequenced sRNA libraries from the R6-stage caryopses samples and flag leaves of 8 rice genotypes differing in their HNT-induced chalkiness (low chalky [LC] or high chalky [HC]) under Control Nighttime Temperature (CNT) and HNT conditions. These efforts allowed us to deposit 84 high-quality sRNA libraries for 8 varieties. Additionally, high-quality degradome libraries were generated for the caryopses and flag leaves of the Cypress variety under both CNT and HNT conditions. Our sRNA sequencing data is likely to be useful in detecting potential relationships between sRNA regulation and the HNT-induced chalky phenotype, while the degradome sequencing data will be useful in identifying sRNA targets relevant to the tissues and conditions analysed. Both the sRNA and degradome sequencing libraries have been deposited in the Sequence Read Archive, so they can be further analysed in future studies investigating the importance of HNT-altered sRNAs not only on grain quality, but also for many other important agronomic traits.