Rice is well known as a salt and drought sensitive crop. Salt and drought stresses greatly affect the growth and productivity of rice plants. To study the molecular response of rice to these abiotic stresses, 14 day-old whole seedlings of the MR253 rice variety were subjected to varying duration of drought-and salt-stress treatments. Using the Differential Display Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (DDRT-PCR), two putative genes were identified; one encodes the apocytochrome f precursor while the other codes for the ATP synthase B chain. The expression of the apocytochrome f precursor was downregulated by 10-fold compared to that of the untreated seedlings after one day of drought-stress treatment but its expression seemed to recover back up to levels similar to those of the untreated seedlings if the duration of drought stress was extended for more than one day. On the other hand, the ATP synthase B chain showed a two-fold increase in expression relative to that of the untreated seedlings after one hour of saltstress treatment but the level of its expression dropped back to those similar to the untreated seedlings if the duration of salt stress went beyond one hour. These findings suggest that genes encoding the apocytochrome f precursor and the ATP synthase B chain seem to play a role in the early molecular response of rice plants to abiotic stresses.