Evaluation of three reference genes of Escherichia coli for mRNA expression level normalization in view of salt and organic acid stress exposure in food. Issue 1 (14th May 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Peng, Silvio; Stephan, Roger; Hummerjohann, Jörg; Tasara, Taurai
• Is Part Of: FEMS microbiology letters. Volume 355:Issue 1(2014:Jun.)
• Page Start: 78
• Page End: 82
• Publication Date: 2014-05-14
• Subjects: Microbiology -- Periodicals; 579
• DOI: 10.1111/1574-6968.12447
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0378-1097

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" id="fml12447-abs-0001"> <title>Abstract</title> <p> <italic>Escherichia coli</italic> can adapt to various stress conditions encountered in food through induction of stress response genes encoding proteins that counteract the respective stresses. To understand the impact and the induction of these genes under food‐associated stresses, changes in the levels of their mRNA expression in response to such stresses can be analysed. Relative quantification of mRNA levels by reverse transcription quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction (RT‐qPCR) requires normalization to reference genes with stable expression under the experimental conditions being investigated. We examined the validity of three housekeeping genes (<italic>cysG</italic>, <italic> hcaT</italic> and <italic>rssA</italic>) among <italic>E. coli</italic> strains exposed to salt and organic acid stress. The <italic>rssA</italic> gene was shown to be the most stably expressed gene under such stress adaptation experimental models. The <italic>cysG</italic> gene was the least stable, whereas the <italic>hcaT</italic> gene showed similar interstrain variability as <italic>rssA</italic> but lower expression stability in the different stress adaptation models.</p> </abstract>