Selection of suitable reference genes for normalization of quantitative real-time PCR in cartilage tissue injury and repair in rabbits.

When studying the altered expression of genes associated with cartilage regeneration by quantitative real-time RT-PCR (RT-qPCR), reference genes with highly stable expression during different stages of chondrocyte developmental are necessary to normalize gene expression accurately. Until now, no reports evaluating expression changes of commonly used reference genes in rabbit articular cartilage have been published. In this study, defects were made in rabbit articular cartilage, with or without insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) treatment, to create different chondrocyte living environments. The stability and intensity of the expressions of the candidate reference genes glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), 18S Ribosomal RNA (18S rRNA), cyclophilin (CYP), hypoxanthine phosphoribosyl transferase (HPRT1), and beta-2-microglobulin (B2M) were evaluated. The data were analyzed by geNorm and NormFinder. B2M and 18S rRNA were identified to be suitable reference genes for rabbit cartilage tissues.

[Effects of different mulching measures on winter wheat field soil respiration in Loess Plateau dry land region].

A field experiment was conducted to study the effects of different mulching measures on the diurnal and seasonal variations of winter wheat field soil respiration in dry land region of Loess Plateau. Four treatments were installed, i. e., 300 kg x hm(-2) straw mulching (M300), 600 kg x hm(-2) straw mulching (M600), plastic film mulching (PM), and no mulching (CK). In all treatments, the soil respiration rate had a decreasing trend from autumn to winter, but increased rapidly after winter and peaked at jointing stage. Comparing with CK, treatments mulching promoted the soil respiration obviously from wintering to maturing stage, with significant differences between treatment PM and the others. The average soil respiration rate in treatments M300, and M600 in whole growth period was 1. 52 micromol CO2 x m(-2) x s(-1) and 1. 47 micromol CO2 x m(-2) x s(-1), being 10. 2% and 6.6% higher than the CK (1.38 micromol CO2 x m(-2) s(-1)) , respectively, and that in treatment PM was 3. 63 micromol CO2 x m(-2) x s(-1), 163% higher than CK. The diurnal variation of soil respiration rate in CK and in M300 and M600 presented a single peak curve and peaked at 12:00 and 14:00, respectively, but for PM treatment, the diurnal variation of soil respiration rate was similar with that in CK at jointing stage while presented a bimodal curve at maturing stage, with the peaks at 12:00 and 16:00, respectively. Soil respiration rate had an exponential correlation with soil temperature, and a parabolic correlation with soil moisture.