Yaqiong Wu: Jiangsu Key Laboratory for the Research and Utilization of Plant Resources, Institute of Botany, Jiangsu Province and Chinese Academy of Sciences, The Jiangsu Provincial Platform for Conservation and Utilization of Agricultural Germplasm, Qian Hu Hou Cun No. 1, Nanjing 210014, China. ORCID
Chunhong Zhang: Jiangsu Key Laboratory for the Research and Utilization of Plant Resources, Institute of Botany, Jiangsu Province and Chinese Academy of Sciences, The Jiangsu Provincial Platform for Conservation and Utilization of Agricultural Germplasm, Qian Hu Hou Cun No. 1, Nanjing 210014, China.
Haiyan Yang: Jiangsu Key Laboratory for the Research and Utilization of Plant Resources, Institute of Botany, Jiangsu Province and Chinese Academy of Sciences, The Jiangsu Provincial Platform for Conservation and Utilization of Agricultural Germplasm, Qian Hu Hou Cun No. 1, Nanjing 210014, China. ORCID
Lianfei Lyu: Jiangsu Key Laboratory for the Research and Utilization of Plant Resources, Institute of Botany, Jiangsu Province and Chinese Academy of Sciences, The Jiangsu Provincial Platform for Conservation and Utilization of Agricultural Germplasm, Qian Hu Hou Cun No. 1, Nanjing 210014, China.
Weilin Li: Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, College of Forestry, Nanjing Forestry University, 159 Longpan Road, Nanjing 210037, China.
Wenlong Wu: Jiangsu Key Laboratory for the Research and Utilization of Plant Resources, Institute of Botany, Jiangsu Province and Chinese Academy of Sciences, The Jiangsu Provincial Platform for Conservation and Utilization of Agricultural Germplasm, Qian Hu Hou Cun No. 1, Nanjing 210014, China.
Due to the lack of effective and stable reference genes, studies on functional genes in , a genus of economically important small berry crops, have been greatly limited. To select the best internal reference genes of different types, we selected four representative cultivars of blackberry and raspberry (red raspberry, yellow raspberry, and black raspberry) as the research material and used RT-qPCR technology combined with three internal stability analysis software programs (geNorm, NormFinder, and BestKeeper) to analyze 12 candidate reference genes for the stability of their expression. The number of most suitable internal reference genes for different cultivars, tissues, and fruit developmental stages of was calculated by geNorm software to be two. Based on the results obtained with the three software programs, the most stable genes in the different cultivars were and . Finally, to validate the reliability of selected reference genes, the expression pattern of the gene was analyzed, and the results highlighted the importance of appropriate reference gene selection. and were screened as reference genes for their relatively stable expression, providing a reference for the further study of key functional genes in blackberry and raspberry and an effective tool for the analysis of differential gene expression.
