Abstract
Bactrocera cucurbitae (melon flies) are prominent invasive pests in southern China. To screen for a stable reference gene in melon flies suitable for comparing tissue samples subjected to different conditions in four categories (temperature, insect stage, days of age and gender), the expression of 12 candidate reference genes under different treatment conditions was analyzed by real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR. The results obtained from a comprehensive analysis with geNorm, NormFinder, BestKeeper and RefFinder software showed that the most stable reference gene was RPL60, and the least stable reference gene was actin-5. We used a heat shock protein gene (HSP-90) to verify the results, and the conclusion was consistent. When the reference gene RPL60 was used as the reference gene, the relative expression of HSP-90 was essentially constant with the prolongation of treatment time. When actin-5 was used, HSP-90 expression changed markedly with treatment time. The results of this study can be used for further research on gene expression inBactrocera cucurbitae.