Evaluation of reference genes for real-time quantitative PCR in the marine flavobacterium Zobellia galactanivorans

The marine bacteria Zobellia galactanivorans is an emerging model microorganism for the bioconversion of algal polysaccharides. The sequence analysis of its genome opens the way to in-depth gene expression analysis, such as reverse transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) studies. The selection and validation of reference genes are a mandatory first step for the accurate quantification of transcripts. We selected fourteen candidate reference genes belonging to distinct pathways, namely replication, transcription, translation, citric acid cycle, amino acid, nucleotide and dihydrofolate metabolisms, and peptidoglycan, FMN and aromatic compounds synthesis. We quantified their expression by RT-qPCR in various culture conditions corresponding to different temperatures, carbon sources or stresses. The applications geNorm and Normfinder allowed ranking the genes according to their stability and gave concordant results. We found that the geometric average of the expression of glyA, icdA and gmkA can be confidently used to normalize the transcript abundance of genes of interest. In conclusion, this work provides a reliable procedure for gene expression analysis in the flavobacterium Z. galactanivorans and a validated set of reference genes to be used in future transcriptomics approaches. The strategy developed could also be the starting point for similar studies in other members of the Flavobacteria class.