Selection of new appropriate reference genes for RT-qPCR analysis via transcriptome sequencing of cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis)

PLoS One. 2013 Apr 15;8(4):e60758. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0060758. Print 2013.

Abstract

In the investigation of the expression levels of target genes, reverse transcription quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) is the most accurate and widely used method. However, a normalization step is a prerequisite to obtain accurate quantification results from RT-qPCR data. Therefore, many studies regarding the selection of reference genes have been carried out. Recently, these studies have involved large-scale gene analysis methods such as microarray and next generation sequencing. In our previous studies, we analyzed large amounts of transcriptome data from the cynomolgus monkey. Using a modification of this large-scale transcriptome sequencing dataset, we selected and compared 12 novel candidate reference genes (ARFGAP2, ARL1, BMI1, CASC3, DDX3X, MRFAP1, ORMDL1, RSL24D1, SAR1A, USP22, ZC3H11A, and ZRANB2) and 4 traditionally used reference genes (ACTB, GAPDH, RPS19, and YWHAZ) in 13 different whole-body tissues by the 3 well-known programs geNorm, NormFinder, and BestKeeper. Combined analysis by these 3 programs showed that ADP-ribosylation factor GTPase activating protein 2 (ARFGAP2), morf4 family associated protein 1 (MRFAP1), and ADP-ribosylation factor-like 1 (ARL1) are the most appropriate reference genes for accurate normalization. Interestingly, 4 traditionally used reference genes were the least stably expressed in this study. For this reason, selection of appropriate reference genes is vitally important, and large-scale analysis is a good method for finding new candidate reference genes. Our results could provide reliable reference gene lists for future studies on the expression of various target genes in the cynomolgus monkey.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Female
  • Gene Expression Profiling*
  • Macaca fascicularis / genetics*
  • Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction / standards*
  • Reference Standards
  • Sequence Analysis

Grants and funding

This research was supported by a Grant from the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology Research Initiative Program (KGM4241231). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.