AUTHOR=Li Meng-Yao , Wang Feng , Jiang Qian , Wang Guan-Long , Tian Chang , Xiong Ai-Sheng 

TITLE=Validation and Comparison of Reference Genes for qPCR Normalization of Celery (Apium graveolens) at Different Development Stages

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=7

YEAR=2016

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2016.00313

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2016.00313

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<p>A suitable reference gene is an important prerequisite for guarantying accurate and reliable results in qPCR analysis. Celery is one of the representative vegetable in Apiaceae and is widely cultivated and consumed in the world. However, no reports have been previously published concerning reference genes in celery. In this study, the expression stabilities of nine candidate reference genes in leaf blade and petiole at different development stages were evaluated using three statistics algorithms geNorm, NormFinder, and BestKeeper. Our results showed that <italic>TUB-B, TUB-A</italic>, and <italic>UBC</italic> were the most reference genes among all tested samples. <italic>GAPDH</italic> represented the maximum stability for most individual sample, while the <italic>UBQ</italic> displayed the minimum stability. To further validate the stability of reference genes, the expression pattern of <italic>AgAP2-2</italic> was calculated by using the selected genes for normalization. In addition, the expression patterns of several development-related genes were studied using the selected reference gene. Our results will be beneficial for further studies on gene transcription in celery.</p>