Abstract
Eukaryotic elongation factor 1-alpha is among the most highly expressed genes in vertebrates. Because its transcript levels are less sensitive to perturbations than those of other housekeeping genes, the zebrafish ortholog eef1a1l1 is widely used as a reference. Here, we report absolute measurements of eef1a1l1 transcript abundance spanning the first 36 hours of zebrafish development. We find that eef1a1l1 transcripts accumulate rapidly; however, when normalized to cell number, its expression is remarkably steady. This distinguishes eef1a1l1 from developmentally regulated genes and underscores its suitability as an invariant internal control.