Validation of reference genes in Penicillium echinulatum to enable gene expression study using real-time quantitative RT-PCR

Quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) is a methodology that facilitates the quantification of mRNA expression in a given sample. Analysis of relative gene expression by qRT-PCR requires normalization of the data using a reference gene that is expressed at a similar level in all evaluated conditions. Determining an internal control gene is essential for gene expression studies. Gene expression studies in filamentous fungi frequently use the β-actin gene (actb), β-tubulin, and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase as reference genes because they are known to have consistent expression levels. Until now, no study has been performed to select an internal control gene for the filamentous fungal species Penicillium echinulatum. The aim of this study was to evaluate and validate internal control genes to enable the study of gene expression in P. echinulatum using qRT-PCR. P. echinulatum strain S1M29 was grown in conditions to either induce (cellulose and sugar cane bagasse) or repress (glucose) gene expression to analyze 23 candidate normalization genes for stable expression. Two software programs, BestKeeper and geNorm, were used to assess the expression of the candidate normalization genes. The results indicate that the actb reference gene is more stably expressed in P. echinulatum. This is the first report in the literature that determines a normalization gene for this fungus. From the results obtained, we recommend the use of the P. echinulatum actb gene as an endogenous control for gene expression studies of cellulases and hemicellulases by qRT-PCR.