Analysis on stability of reference genes in different developmental stages of seeds from Carthamus tinctorius / 中草药

ABSTRACT

Objective: To select the appropriate reference genes for qRT-PCR by analyzing the stability of housekeeping genes as reference genes in different developmental stages of safflower. Methods: Six housekeeping genes such as ACT, EF1α, GAPDH, UBI, TUA, and TUB were selected as candidate reference genes to analyze their expression levels in safflower seeds under different developmental stages by qRT-PCR. The expression stability was evaluated by GeNorm and NormFinder softwares. Results: The expression levels of six reference genes were different, but the best was EF1α and the best combination reference genes were EF1α, TUB, and ACT. Normfinder software was applied to the verification of analysis result by GeNorm software. The Normfinder software results showed that UBI gene was not stable, and other genes were stable. Conclusion: This study provides a detailed reference of housekeeping gene for qRT-PCR in different developmental stages of safflower.