Selection of relatively exact reference genes for gene expression studies in goosegrass (Eleusine indica) under herbicide stress

• Published in: Scientific reports 2017-04, Vol.7 (1), p.46494, Article 46494
• Main Authors: Chen, Jingchao, Huang, Zhaofeng, Huang, Hongjuan, Wei, Shouhui, Liu, Yan, Jiang, Cuilan, Zhang, Jie, Zhang, Chaoxian
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 38/39; 631/449/1659; 631/449/2661/2665; Acetolactate synthase; Acetolactate Synthase - genetics; Chloroplast Proteins - genetics; Developmental stages; Eleusine - enzymology; Eleusine - genetics; Gene expression; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant - drug effects; Glufosinate; Glycine - analogs & derivatives; Glycine - pharmacology; Glyphosate; Herbicide resistance; Herbicide Resistance - genetics; Herbicides; Herbicides - pharmacology; Humanities and Social Sciences; multidisciplinary; Polymerase chain reaction; Science; Selection, Genetic; Stress, Physiological - drug effects; Stress, Physiological - genetics; Transcription; Ubiquitin; Ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme; Weeds
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/srep46494

Goosegrass ( Eleusine indica ) is one of the most serious annual grassy weeds worldwide, and its evolved herbicide-resistant populations are more difficult to control. Quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) is a common technique for investigating the resistance mechanism; however, there is as yet no report on the systematic selection of stable reference genes for goosegrass. This study proposed to test the expression stability of 9 candidate reference genes in goosegrass in different tissues and developmental stages and under stress from three types of herbicide. The results show that for different developmental stages and organs (control), eukaryotic initiation factor 4 A ( eIF-4 ) is the most stable reference gene. Chloroplast acetolactate synthase ( ALS ) is the most stable reference gene under glyphosate stress. Under glufosinate stress, eIF-4 is the best reference gene. Ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme ( UCE ) is the most stable reference gene under quizalofop-p-ethyl stress. The gene eIF-4 is the recommended reference gene for goosegrass under the stress of all three herbicides. Moreover, pairwise analysis showed that seven reference genes were sufficient to normalize the gene expression data under three herbicides treatment. This study provides a list of reliable reference genes for transcript normalization in goosegrass, which will facilitate resistance mechanism studies in this weed species.