Reference gene selection for Real-Time PCR in Bidens laevis L. during pesticide and cold stress

LUKASZEWICZ, GERMÁN; AMÉ, M.V.,; MENONE, MIRTA LUJÁN

Berlin

Congreso; 6th SETAC World Congress 2012; 2012

Environmental monitoring demands the usage of new species and sensitive methods in order to get accurate regional biomonitoring. The aquatic macrophyte Bidens laevis L. (fam.: Asteraceae) has desirable growing characteristics for use in laboratory assays, has proven to respond positively to genotoxic compounds and showed enzimatic response when exposed to the pesticide endosulfan. Nowadays, gene expression offers crucial information when analysing responses to xenobiotic compounds. It is well known that Real Time PCR (RT-qPCR) is the preferred method for studing gene expression because of its sensitivity, precision and robustness but it requires the use of reference genes with stable expression among different treatments, as well as different tissues and growth stages. The aim of this study was to analize the expression of two candidate genes, Elongation Factor 1 alfa (EF1a) and Actin (ACT) in B. laevis in three tissues (root, stem and leaves) under four conditions: 1-control-: Large plants (>1500mg), temperature 22ºC, media: Hoagland solution; 2 -short-: Short plants (