If you look in literature on tubulin, you will find that the levels of
tubulin mRNA change during development and in response to light levels in
leaves and possbly in other tissues, so I would be a bit concerned at its
use as a control, although it has been done many times. When cell
expansion and/or division rates are high, tub mRNA seems to go up. There
is no really good answer to this. rRNA seems to be used quite a bit.
Perhaps the best ways is to use several different controls.
Mark Guiltinan
Mark Guiltinan
Associate Professor of
Plant Molecular Biology
Department of Horticulture
The Biotechnology Institute office: 814 863-7957
Penn State University lab: 814 863-7958
306 Wartik Lab fax: 814 863-6139
University Park, PA 16802-5807 mjg9 at .psu.edu
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