Housekeeping gene

In molecular biology, housekeeping genes are typically constitutive genes that are required for the maintenance of basic cellular function, and are expressed in all cells of an organism under normal and patho-physiological conditions. Although some housekeeping genes are expressed at relatively constant rates in most non-pathological situations, the expression of other housekeeping genes may vary depending on experimental conditions.

The origin of the term "housekeeping gene" remains obscure. Literature from 1976 used the term to describe specifically tRNA and rRNA. For experimental purposes, the expression of one or multiple housekeeping genes is used as a reference point for the analysis of expression levels of other genes. The key criterion for the use of a housekeeping gene in this manner is that the chosen housekeeping gene is uniformly expressed with low variance under both control and experimental conditions. Validation of housekeeping genes should be performed before their use in gene expression experiments such as RT-PCR.

The following is a partial list of "housekeeping genes." For a more complete list, see this list compiled by Eli Eisenberg and Erez Lavanon. Entries that appear without a reference are from this updated list from 2013.

RPS19BP1

There is significant overlap in function with regards to some of these proteins. In particular, the Rho-related genes are important in nuclear trafficking (i.e.: mitosis) as well as with mobility along the cytoskeleton in general. These genes of particular interest in cancer research.

(Note that COX1, COX2, and COX3 are mitochondrially encoded)

A specialized form of cell signaling

tetratricopeptide

Although this page is devoted to genes that should be ubiquitously expressed, this section is for genes whose current name reflects their relative upregulation in testes

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