qRT-PCR data normalization by the identification of expression analysis of the most stable and the least stable housekeeping genes (HKGs) in Covid-19

Authors

  • Kanza Batool Dr Ikram Ul Haq Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Government College University, Lahore, Pakistan Author
  • Saira Jabeen Provincial Public Health Reference Laboratory, Lahore Author
  • Hafiz Khawar Dr Ikram Ul Haq Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Government College University, Lahore, Pakistan Author
  • Muhammad Osama Malik Collin College of Business, University of Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA Author
  • Muhammad Ijaz Department of Entomology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad Author
  • Shahwana Tehreem Institute of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Sargodha Author
  • Aunza Nayab Ansar Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, The University of Lahore, Pakistan Author
  • Rehman Shahzad Hi-Tech Biotechnology Laboratory Lahore, Pakistan Author
  • Sumaira Ashraf Dr Ikram Ul Haq Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Government College University, Lahore, Pakistan Author

Keywords:

Housekeeping genes (HKGs), Covid-19, gene expression, expression levels, vaccines

Abstract

 Housekeeping genes (HKGs) are known as constitutive and metabolic genes which remain functionally active throughout the life span of an organism. The selection of appropriate housekeeping genes (HKGs) is the prime step for qRT-PCR data normalization. In present study, it was focused to compare the stability of ten HKGs systematically to identify the most stable endogenous internal control for our study groups i.e. control Covid-19 groups (healthy candidates), and Covid-19 effected group (mild, moderate severe). Expression levels of GAPDH, β -actin, 18S rRNA, TBP, RPL 13a, EEF1G, UBE2D2, HPRT1 have determined by using three different biostatical based applets, geNorm, NormFinder, and BestKeeper. For comparative analysis, IL-10 gene was selected as target gene. The results suggested that B2M showed significant expression variation and graded as the least stable housekeeping genes (HKGs). However, beta-Actin, and TBP were identified as the most stable housekeeping genes (HKGs) to carry out genetic based expression analysis of all samples associated with Covid-19. This study has applied the knowledge of molecular biology, immunological, pathological, and bioinformatics in an integrated manner to pave the ways for SARS-CoV-2 transcriptome analysis for the development of effective vaccines against Covid-19 in the future. 

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Andersen, C. L., J. L. Jensen, et al. (2004). "Normalization of real-time quantitative reverse transcription-PCR data: a modelbased variance estimation approach to identify genes suited for normalization, applied to bladder and colon cancer data sets."

Cancer research 64(15): 5245-5250.

Bustin, S., V. Benes, et al. (2005). "Quantitative real-time RT-PCR–a perspective." Journal of molecular endocrinology 34(3):

-601.

Chen, Z.-S., N.-N. Han, et al. (2017). "Selection of reference genes for expression analysis using RT-qPCR in the

dissemination system of Heliothis virescens ascovirus 3 h (HvAV-3h)." Scientific reports 7(1): 1-10.

Ciotti, M., M. Ciccozzi, et al. (2020). "The COVID-19 pandemic." Critical reviews in clinical laboratory sciences 57(6): 365-

Cristiano, L. (2020). "EEF1G (Eukaryotic translation elongation factor 1 gamma)." Atlas of Genetics and Cytogenetics in

Oncology and Haematology.

Curina, A., A. Termanini, et al. (2017). "High constitutive activity of a broad panel of housekeeping and tissue-specific cisregulatory elements depends on a subset of ETS proteins." Genes & development 31(4): 399-412.

Curtis, K. M., L. A. Gomez, et al. (2010). "EF1α and RPL13a represent normalization genes suitable for RT-qPCR analysis of

bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells." BMC molecular biology 11(1): 1-15.

Dheda, K., J. Huggett, et al. (2005). "The implications of using an inappropriate reference gene for real-time reverse

transcription PCR data normalization." Analytical biochemistry 344(1): 141-143.

Dheda, K., J. F. Huggett, et al. (2004). "Validation of housekeeping genes for normalizing RNA expression in real-time PCR."

Biotechniques 37(1): 112-119.

Duan, J., L. Nilsson, et al. (2004). "Structural and functional analysis of mutations at the human hypoxanthine phosphoribosyl

transferase (HPRT1) locus." Human mutation 23(6): 599-611.

Eisenberg, E. and E. Y. Levanon (2013). "Human housekeeping genes, revisited." TRENDS in Genetics 29(10): 569-574.

Eisenberg, E. and E. Y. Levanon (2014). "Human housekeeping genes, revisited (vol 29, pg 569, 2013)." Trends in Genetics

(3): 119-120.

Ferreira-Cerca, S., G. Pöll, et al. (2005). "Roles of eukaryotic ribosomal proteins in maturation and transport of pre-18S rRNA

and ribosome function." Molecular cell 20(2): 263-275.

Gachon, C., A. Mingam, et al. (2004). "Real-time PCR: what relevance to plant studies?" Journal of experimental botany

(402): 1445-1454.

Grein, J., N. Ohmagari, et al. (2020). "Compassionate use of remdesivir for patients with severe Covid-19." New England Journal of Medicine 382(24): 2327-2336.

Guénin, S., M. Mauriat, et al. (2009). "Normalization of qRT-PCR data: the necessity of adopting a systematic, experimental

conditions-specific, validation of references." Journal of experimental botany 60(2): 487-493.

Guo, Y.-R., Q.-D. Cao, et al. (2020). "The origin, transmission and clinical therapies on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

outbreak–an update on the status." Military medical research 7(1): 1-10.

He, J.-Q., A. J. Sandford, et al. (2008). "Selection of housekeeping genes for real-time PCR in atopic human bronchial

epithelial cells." European Respiratory Journal 32(3): 755-762.

Hu, B., H. Guo, et al. (2021). "Characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19." Nature Reviews Microbiology 19(3): 141-

Huang, I. and R. Pranata (2020). "Lymphopenia in severe coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19): systematic review and metaanalysis." Journal of intensive care 8(1): 1-10.

Islam, H., T. C. Chamberlain, et al. (2021). "Elevated interleukin-10 levels in COVID-19: potentiation of pro-inflammatory

responses or impaired anti-inflammatory action?" Frontiers in Immunology: 2485.

Jia, J., A. Arif, et al. (2012). "Protection of extraribosomal RPL13a by GAPDH and dysregulation by S-nitrosylation."

Molecular cell 47(4): 656-663.

Lee, T. I. and R. A. Young (1998). "Regulation of gene expression by TBP-associated proteins." Genes & development 12(10):

-1408.

Moein, S., S. H. Javanmard, et al. (2017). "Identification of appropriate housekeeping genes for gene expression analysis in

long-term hypoxia-treated kidney cells." Advanced biomedical research 6.

Nestorov, J., G. Matić, et al. (2013). "Gene expression studies: How to obtain accurate and reliable data by quantitative realtime RT PCR." Journal of Medical Biochemistry 32(4): 325-338.

Nicholls, C., H. Li, et al. (2012). "GAPDH: a common enzyme with uncommon functions." Clinical and Experimental

Pharmacology and Physiology 39(8): 674-679.

Nikalje, G. C., A. K. Srivastava, et al. (2018). "Halophytes in biosaline agriculture: Mechanism, utilization, and value

addition." Land Degradation & Development 29(4): 1081-1095.

Nossmann, M. (2020). "Optimization of a molecular diagnostic strategy to verify SARS-CoV-2 infections by RT-qPCR."

Journal of Laboratory Medicine 44(6): 349-356.

Pfaffl, M. W. (2001). "A new mathematical model for relative quantification in real-time RT–PCR." Nucleic acids research

(9): e45-e45.

Radonić, A., S. Thulke, et al. (2004). "Guideline to reference gene selection for quantitative real-time PCR." Biochemical and

biophysical research communications 313(4): 856-862.

Ruan, W. and M. Lai (2007). "Actin, a reliable marker of internal control?" Clinica Chimica Acta 385(1-2): 1-5.

Sarwar, M. B., Z. Ahmad, et al. (2020). "Identification and validation of superior housekeeping gene (s) for qRT-PCR data

normalization in Agave sisalana (a CAM-plant) under abiotic stresses." Physiology and Molecular Biology of Plants 26(3):

-584.

Stürzenbaum, S. R. and P. Kille (2001). "Control genes in quantitative molecular biological techniques: the variability of

invariance." Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part B: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 130(3): 281-289.

Thellin, O., W. Zorzi, et al. (1999). "Housekeeping genes as internal standards: use and limits." Journal of biotechnology 75(2-

: 291-295.

Vandesompele, J., K. De Preter, et al. (2002). "Accurate normalization of real-time quantitative RT-PCR data by geometric

averaging of multiple internal control genes." Genome biology 3(7): 1-12.

Velavan, T. P. and C. G. Meyer (2020). "The COVID‐19 epidemic." Tropical medicine & international health 25(3): 278.

Wang, H., B. Liu, et al. (2021). "Beta2-microglobulin (B2M) in cancer immunotherapies: Biological function, resistance and

remedy." Cancer Letters.

Wang, Y., S. H. Bryant, et al. (2017). "Pubchem bioassay: 2017 update." Nucleic acids research 45(D1): D955-D963.

Wrapp, D., N. Wang, et al. (2020). "Cryo-EM structure of the 2019-nCoV spike in the prefusion conformation." Science

(6483): 1260-1263.

Zhu, J., F. He, et al. (2008). "On the nature of human housekeeping genes." Trends in genetics 24(10): 481-484

Downloads

Published

2024-04-30

How to Cite

Batool, K., Jabeen, S., Khawar, H., Osama Malik, M., Ijaz, M., Tehreem, S., Nayab Ansar, A., Shahzad, R., & Ashraf, S. (2024). qRT-PCR data normalization by the identification of expression analysis of the most stable and the least stable housekeeping genes (HKGs) in Covid-19. History of Medicine, 10(2), 542-556. https://historymedjournal.com/HOM/index.php/medicine/article/view/815