He Keting,Wei Dongfan,Liu Qiuhong,Liu Xiaoli,Zhou Diwenxin,Chen Shangci,Zhu Danhua,Xu Xiaowei
Acute liver injury (ALI) presents a challenging problem worldwide, prompting extensive research efforts. Cellular senescence has been found to be induced following ALI, and targeting cellular senescence has shown therapeutic potential. Therefore, understanding the expression of senescence-related genes in ALI can help to explore pathogenesis and treatment of this common disease. Carbon tetrachloride (CCl 4 ) is commonly used to study ALI. Although polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a convenient and economical molecular biology technique widely used in basic medicine, research on selecting suitable reference genes to obtain objective and reproducible PCR data is scarce. Moreover, evidence supporting the choice of reference genes for experimental studies of CCl4-induced ALI and hepatic senescence in mice is limited. In this study, we obtained murine livers at four time points (0, 12, 24, and 48 h) following CCl4 treatment. We used five algorithms (geNorm, BestKeeper, NormFinder, delta Ct, and RefFinder) to rank 12 candidate genes in real-time reverse-transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) experiments. Focusing on cellular senescence in this model, we adopted four senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) genes ( Il6 , Il1b , Ccl2 , and Ccl5 ) as target genes. Our results confirmed Gapdh and Tbp as suitable reference genes in murine CCl 4 -induced ALI models. Furthermore, we provide a table of published studies recommending reference genes for various liver disease models. This study provides a valuable reference for enhancing the reliability and reproducibility of ALI molecular findings.
Asia minor bluegrass (Polypogon fugax), a widespread Poaceae weed, exhibits broad tolerance to abiotic stresses. Validated reference genes (RGs) for reliable RT-qPCR normalization in this ecologically and agriculturally significant species remain unidentified. This study identified eight candidate RGs using transcriptome data from seedling tissues. We assessed the expression stability of these eight RGs across various abiotic stresses and developmental stages using Delta Ct, BestKeeper, geNorm, and NormFinder algorithms. A comprehensive stability ranking was generated using RefFinder, with validation performed using the target genesCOR413andP5CS. Results identifiedEIF4AandTUBas the optimal RG combination for normalizing gene expression during heat stress, cold stress, and growth stages.EIF4AandACTwere most stable under drought stress,EIF4Aand28Sunder salt stress, andEIF4AandEF-1 under cadmium (Cd) stress. Furthermore,EIF4AandUBQdemonstrated optimal stability under herbicide stress. Additionally, application of validated RGs revealed higher acetyl-CoA carboxylase gene (ACCase) expression in one herbicide-resistant population, suggesting target-site gene overexpression contributes to resistance. This work presents the first systematic evaluation of RGs inP. fugax. The identified stable RGs provide essential tools for future gene expression studies on growth and abiotic stress responses in this species, facilitating deeper insights into the molecular basis of its weediness and adaptability.