Reliable reference genes for normalization of gene expression in cucumber grown under different nitrogen nutrition

PLoS One. 2013 Sep 13;8(9):e72887. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0072887. eCollection 2013.

Abstract

In plants, nitrogen is the most important nutritional factor limiting the yield of cultivated crops. Since nitrogen is essential for synthesis of nucleotides, amino acids and proteins, studies on gene expression in plants cultivated under different nitrogen availability require particularly careful selection of suitable reference genes which are not affected by nitrogen limitation. Therefore, the objective of this study was to select the most reliable reference genes for qPCR analysis of target cucumber genes under varying nitrogen source and availability. Among twelve candidate cucumber genes used in this study, five are highly homologous to the commonly used internal controls, whereas seven novel candidates were previously identified through the query of the cucumber genome. The expression of putative reference genes and the target CsNRT1.1 gene was analyzed in roots, stems and leaves of cucumbers grown under nitrogen deprivation, varying nitrate availability or different sources of nitrogen (glutamate, glutamine or NH3). The stability of candidate genes expression significantly varied depending on the tissue type and nitrogen supply. However, in most of the outputs genes encoding CACS, TIP41, F-box protein and EFα proved to be the most suitable for normalization of CsNRT1.1 expression. In addition, our results suggest the inclusion of 3 or 4 references to obtain highly reliable results of target genes expression in all cucumber organs under nitrogen-related stress.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Cucumis sativus / genetics*
  • Cucumis sativus / metabolism
  • Gene Expression Profiling
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Plant*
  • Genes, Essential*
  • Genome, Plant*
  • Nitrogen / metabolism*
  • Plant Leaves / genetics
  • Plant Leaves / metabolism
  • Plant Proteins / genetics*
  • Plant Proteins / metabolism
  • Plant Roots / genetics
  • Plant Roots / metabolism
  • Plant Stems / genetics
  • Plant Stems / metabolism
  • Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction / standards
  • Reference Standards

Substances

  • Plant Proteins
  • Nitrogen

Grants and funding

The research was mainly supported by the Polish National Science Centre (grant no. N N303 818740). AW was financially supported by the fellowship for young PhD researchers granted by European Social Fund of European Union. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.