• Interdisciplinary Bio Central
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.11.1-11.8
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• 2012

Genes that are indispensable for survival are referred to as essential gene. Due to the momentous significance of these genes for cellular activity they can be selected potentially as drug targets. Here in this study, an essential gene for Streptococcus suis was predicted using coherent statistical analysis and powerful genome comparison computational method. At first the whole genome protein scatter plot was generated and subsequently, on the basis of statistical significance, a reference genome was chosen. The parameters set forth for selecting the reference genome was that the genome of the query (Streptococcus suis) and subject must fall in the same genus and yet they must vary to a good degree. Streptococcus pneumoniae was found to be suitable as the reference genome. A whole genome comparison was performed for the reference (Streptococcus pneumoniae) and the query genome (Streptococcus suis) and 14 conserved proteins from them were subjected to a screen for potential essential gene property. Among those 14 only one essential gene was found to be with impressive similarity score between reference and query. The essential gene encodes for a type of 'Clp protease'. Clp proteases play major roles in degrading misfolded proteins. Results found here should help formulating a drug against Strptococcus suis which is responsible for mild to severe clinical conditions in human. However, like many other computational studies, the study has to be validated furthermore through in vitro assays for concrete proof.

• Entomological Research
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.390-399
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• 2018

In order to precisely assess gene expression levels, the suitable internal reference genes must be served to quantify real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) data. For armyworm, Mythimna separata, which reference genes are suitable for assessing the level of transcriptional expression of target genes have yet to be explored. In this study, eight common reference genes, including ${\beta}$-actin (${\beta}$-ACT), 18 s ribosomal (18S), 28S ribosomal (28S), glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate (GAPDH), elongation fator-alpha ($EF1{\alpha}$), TATA box binding protein (TBP), ribosomal protein L7 (RPL7), and alpha-tubulin (${\alpha}$-TUB) that in different developmental stages, tissues and insecticide treatments of M. separata were evaluated. To further explore whether these genes were suitable to serve as endogenous controls, three software-based approaches (geNorm, BestKeeper, and NormFinder), the delta Ct method, and one web-based comprehensive tool (RefFinder) were employed to analyze and rank the tested genes. The optimal number of reference genes was determined using the geNorm program, and the suitability of particular reference genes was empirically validated according to normalized HSP70, and MsepCYP321A10 gene expression data. We found that the most suitable reference genes for the different experimental conditions. For developmental stages, 28S/RPL7 were the optimal reference genes, both $RPL7/EF1{\alpha}$ were suitable for experiments of different tissues, whereas for insecticide treatments, $28S/{\alpha}-TUB$ were suitable for normalizations of expression data. In addition, $28S/{\alpha}-TUB$ were the suitable reference genes because they have the most stable expression among different developmental stages, tissues and insecticide treatments. Our work is the first report on reference gene selection in M. separata, and might serve as a precedent for future gene expression studies.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.112-121
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• 2017

Edwardsiella tarda is a gram-negative pathogenic bacterium in aquaculture that can cause hemorrhagic septicemia in fish. Many secreted proteins have already been identified as virulent factors of E. tarda. Moreover, since virulent phenotypes are based on the expression regulation of virulent genes, understanding the expression profile of virulent genes is important. A quantitative RT-PCR is one of the preferred methods for determining different gene expressions. However, this requires the selection of a stable reference gene in E. tarda, which has not yet been systematically studied. Accordingly, this study evaluated nine candidate reference genes (recA, uup, rpoB, rho, topA, gyrA, groEL, rpoD, and 16S rRNA) using the Excel-based programs BestKeeper, GeNorm, and NormFinder under different culture conditions. The results showed that 16S rRNA was more stable than the other genes at different culture growth phases. However, at the same culture time, topA was identified as the reference gene under the conditions of different strains, different culture media, and infection, whereas gyrA was identified under the condition of different temperatures. Thus, in experiments, the expression of gapA and fbaA in E. tarda was analyzed by RT-qPCR using 16S rRNA, recA, and uup as the reference genes. The results showed that 16S rRNA was the most suitable reference gene in this analysis, and that using unsuitable reference genes resulted in inaccurate results.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.21.1-21.11
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• 2016

Background: The evaluation of suitable reference genes as normalization controls is a prerequisite requirement for launching quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (RT-qPCR)-based expression study. In order to select the stable reference genes in abalone Haliotis discus hannai tissues (gill and hepatopancreas) under heavy metal exposure conditions (Cu, Zn, and Cd), 12 potential candidate housekeeping genes were subjected to expression stability based on the comprehensive ranking while integrating four different statistical algorithms (geNorm, NormFinder, BestKeeper, and ${\Delta}CT$ method). Results: Expression stability in the gill subset was determined as RPL7 > RPL8 > ACTB > RPL3 > PPIB > RPL7A > EF1A > RPL4 > GAPDH > RPL5 > UBE2 > B-TU. On the other hand, the ranking in the subset for hepatopancreas was RPL7 > RPL3 > RPL8 > ACTB > RPL4 > EF1A > RPL5 > RPL7A > B-TU > UBE2 > PPIB > GAPDH. The pairwise variation assessed by the geNorm program indicates that two reference genes could be sufficient for accurate normalization in both gill and hepatopancreas subsets. Overall, both gill and hepatopancreas subsets recommended ribosomal protein genes (particularly RPL7) as stable references, whereas traditional housekeepers such as ${\beta}-tubulin$ (B-TU) and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) genes were ranked as unstable genes. The validation of reference gene selection was confirmed with the quantitative assay of MT transcripts. Conclusions: The present analysis showed the importance of validating reference genes with multiple algorithmic approaches to select genes that are truly stable. Our results indicate that expression stability of a given reference gene could not always have consensus across tissue types. The data from this study could be a good guide for the future design of RT-qPCR studies with respect to metal regulation/detoxification and other related physiologies in this abalone species.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.26 no.12
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• pp.1665-1671
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• 2013

Real-time quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) is one of the important methods for investigating the changes in mRNA expression levels in cells and tissues. Selection of the proper reference genes is very important when calibrating the results of real-time quantitative PCR. Studies on the selection of reference genes in goat tissues are limited, despite the economic importance of their meat and dairy products. We used real-time quantitative PCR to detect the expression levels of eight reference gene candidates (18S, TBP, HMBS, YWHAZ, ACTB, HPRT1, GAPDH and EEF1A2) in ten tissues types sourced from Boer goats. The optimal reference gene combination was selected according to the results determined by geNorm, NormFinder and Bestkeeper software packages. The analyses showed that tissue is an important variability factor in genes expression stability. When all tissues were considered, 18S, TBP and HMBS is the optimal reference combination for calibrating quantitative PCR analysis of gene expression from goat tissues. Dividing data set by tissues, ACTB was the most stable in stomach, small intestine and ovary, 18S in heart and spleen, HMBS in uterus and lung, TBP in liver, HPRT1 in kidney and GAPDH in muscle. Overall, this study provided valuable information about the goat reference genes that can be used in order to perform a proper normalisation when relative quantification by qRT-PCR studies is undertaken.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.159-162
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• 2009

Human personal genome sequencing can be done with high efficiency by aligning a huge number of short reads derived from various next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies to the reference genome sequence. One of the major obstacles is the incompleteness of human reference genome. We tried to analyze the effect of hidden gene duplication on the NGS data using the known example of hydin gene. Hydin2, a duplicated copy of hydin on chromosome 16q22, has been recently found to be localized to chromosome 1q21, and is not included in the current version of standard human genome reference. We found that all of eight personal genome data published so far do not contain hydin2, and there is large number of nsSNPs in hydin. The heterozygosity of those nsSNPs was significantly higher than expected. The sequence coverage depth in hydin gene was about two fold of average depth. We believe that these unique finding of hydin can be used as useful indicators to discover new hidden multiplication in human genome.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.157-164
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• 2014

Clostridium chauvoei is the etiologic agent of blackleg, a high mortality rated disease infection mainly cattle. In the present study, the partial sequences of 16S rRNA and flagellin gene of C. chauvoei isolated in Jeonbuk, Korea were determined and compared with those of reference strain. Oligonucleotide primers were designed to amplify a 811 bp fragment of 16S rRNA gene and 1229 bp fragment of flagellin gene. Sequencing analysis of 16S rRNA gene showed high homology to the reference strains ranging 82.3% to 100%, while flagellin gene were different from published foreign clostridia, showing 98.7% to 72.0% nucleotide sequence homology. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene revealed the close phylogenetic relationship of C. chauvoei and C. septicum in cluster I, which includes C. carnis, C. tertium, C. quinii, C. celatum, C. perfringens, C. absonum, C. botulinum B. Phylogentic analysis also revealed that flagellin gene formed a single cluster with C. chauvoei, C. septicum, C. novyi A, C. novyi B, C. tyrobutylicum, C. acetobutylicum. The genetic informations obtained from this study could be useful for the molecular study of C. chauvoei.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.471-478
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• 2014

Investigating gene expression of immune cells of whole blood or peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) under polyinosinic:polycytidylic acid (poly I:C) stimulation is valuable for understanding the immune response of organism to RNA viruses. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) is a standard method for quantification of gene expression studies. However, the reliability of qRT-PCR data critically depends on proper selection of reference genes. In the study, using two different analysis programs, geNorm and NormFinder, we systematically evaluated the gene expression stability of six candidate reference genes (GAPDH, ACTB, B2M, RPL4, TBP, and PPIA) in samples of whole blood and PBMC with or without poly I:C stimulation. Generally, the six candidate genes performed a similar trend of expression stability in the samples of whole blood and PBMC, but more stably expressed in whole blood than in PBMC. geNorm ranked B2M and PPIA as the best combination for gene expression normalization, while according to NormFinder, TBP was ranked as the most stable reference gene, followed by B2M and PPIA. Comprehensively considering the results from the two programs, we recommended using the geometric mean of the three genes, TBP, PPIA and B2M, to normalize the gene expression of whole blood and PBMC with poly I:C stimulation. Our study is the first detailed survey of the gene expression stability in whole blood and PBMC with or without poly I:C stimulation and should be helpful for investigating the molecular mechanism involved in porcine whole blood and PBMC in response to poly I:C stimulation.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.14
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• pp.5815-5818
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• 2014

For an exact comparison of mRNA transcription in different samples or tissues with real time quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), it is crucial to select a suitable internal reference gene. Glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) and beta-actin (ACTB) have been frequently considered as house-keeping genes to normalize for changes in specific gene expression. However, it has been reported that these genes are unsuitable references in some cases, because their transcription is significantly variable under particular experimental conditions and among tissues. The present study was aimed to investigate which reference genes are most suitable for the study of gastric cancer tissues using qRT-PCR. 50 pairs of gastric cancer and corresponding peritumoral tissues were obtained from patients with gastric cancer. Absolute qRT-PCR was employed to detect the expression of GAPDH, ACTB, RPII and 18sRNA in the gastric cancer samples. Comparing gastric cancer with corresponding peritumoral tissues, GAPDH, ACTB and RPII were obviously upregulated 6.49, 5.0 and 3.68 fold, respectively. Yet 18sRNA had no obvious expression change in gastric cancer tissues and the corresponding peritumoral tissues. The expression of GAPDH, ${\beta}$-actin, RPII and 18sRNA showed no obvious changes in normal gastric epithelial cells compared with gastric cancer cell lines. The carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), a widely used clinical tumor marker, was used as a validation gene. Only when 18sRNA was used as the normalizing gene was CEA obviously elevated in gastric cancer tissues compared with peritumoral tissues. Our data show that 18sRNA is stably expressed in gastric cancer samples and corresponding peritumoral tissues. These observations confirm that there is no universal reference gene and underline the importance of specific optimization of potential reference genes for any experimental condition.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.8
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• pp.417-428
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• 2020

Housekeeping genes are expressed in cells of all organisms and perform basic cellular functions such as energy generation, substance synthesis, cell death, and cell defense. Accordingly, the expression levels of housekeeping genes are relatively constant, and thus they are used as reference genes in gene expression studies, such as protein expression and mRNA expression analysis of target genes. However, the levels of expression of these genes may be different among various tissues or cells and may change under certain circumstances. Therefore, it is important to select the best reference gene for specific gene expression research by exploring the stability of housekeeping gene expression. This review summarizes housekeeping genes found in humans, chickens, pigs, and rats in the literature and estimates expression stability using geNorm, NormFinder, and BestKeeper software. The most suitable reference housekeeping gene can selected based on expression stability according to the experimental conditions of the gene expression study and can thus be applied to data normalization.