A Comparative Assessment of Reference Genes in Mouse Brown Adipocyte Differentiation and Thermogenesis in Vitro

Adipogenic differentiation and thermogenesis in brown adipose tissue (BAT) undergo dynamic processes, altering phenotypes and gene expressions. Proper reference genes in gene expression analysis are crucial to mitigate experimental variances and ensure PCR efficacy. Unreliable reference genes can lead to erroneous gene expression quantification, resulting in data misinterpretation. This study focused on identifying suitable reference genes for mouse brown adipocyte research, utilizing brown adipocytes from the Ucp1-luciferase ThermoMouse model. Comparative analysis of gene expression data under adipogenesis and thermogenesis conditions was conducted, validating 13 housekeeping genes through various algorithms, including DeltaCq, BestKeeper, geNorm, Normfinder, and RefFinder. and emerged as optimal references for and expression in brown adipogenesis, while and were ideal for the expression analysis of these target genes in thermogenesis. Conversely, certain conventional references, including and , proved unstable as reference genes under both conditions. These findings stress the critical consideration of reference gene selection in gene expression analysis within specific biological systems to ensure accurate conclusions.