[introduction]

geNorm is a popular algorithm to determine the most stable reference (housekeeping) genes from a set of tested candidate reference genes in a given sample panel. From this, a gene expression normalization factor can be calculated for each sample based on the geometric mean of a user-defined number of reference genes.

Apart from a stand alone program available below, the geNorm algorithm is also integrated in the qbase^PLUS software for real-time PCR data analysis (available from Biogazelle.)

The underlying principles and formulas are described in Vandesompele et al., Genome Biology, 2002, 'Accurate normalization of real-time quantitative RT-PCR data by geometric averaging of multiple internal control genes'. The full article can be read at http://genomebiology.com/2002/3/7/research/0034/
[n° 8 in ranking of all time most-viewed articles published by BioMed Central]

In a follow-up paper we report a universal method for identification of stable microRNA reference genes: Mestdagh et al., Genome Biology, 2009, 'A novel and universal method for microRNA RT-qPCR data normalization'. The full article can be read at http://genomebiology.com/2009/10/6/R64


[download] [11492 geNorm downloads in 114 countries]

geNorm is freely available for non-commercial, academic research to be conducted at a non-profit institution. Rights to use the software outside the license agreement (e.g. commercial use) can be obtained through PrimerDesign Ltd.

the geNorm for Windows VBA applet for Microsoft Excel 2000/XP/2003(version 3.5)

a beta version of geNorm for Mac developed by Bastian Peter

geNorm user manual
There is also a version for R available in the SLqPCR package developed by Matthias Kohl.


[geNorm citations]

According to Google Scholar, more than 2000 papers have cited the geNorm method.


[discussion group]

An accompanying discussion group to foster discussions between geNorm users so that they can share experiences and solutions doing gene expression normalization can be found at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/genorm


[geNorm detection kits]

geNorm based detection kits are available commercially from PrimerDesign Ltd. Currently available are primer sets to detect a wide variety of Homo, Mus, Rattus, Caenorhabditis, Xenopus, Arabidopsis and Ovis normalising genes.
For commercial entities, kits purchased from PrimerDesign Ltd. come with a limited licence to use the geNorm software in conjunction with the kit.




[feedback]

"We have been using geNorm when examining cell wall synthesis enzymes in barley tissues and are happy with the results. Thanks for generating such a useful tool and making it universally available."
Neil Shirley, University of Adelaide, Australia

"I am extremely impressed with this approach to normalization."
Chris Tse, Sagres Discovery, USA

"I can no longer analyze my PCR runs without using geNorm!"
Marie-Jeanne Pillaire, CNRS, France


[reference gene primer sequences]

Primer sequences for many reference genes are available in the real-time PCR primer and probe database RTPrimerDB.
You are kindly invited to submit your validated primer (and probe) sequences to RTPrimerDB, so that other users can benefit from your expertise.
The database is available at http://www.rtprimerdb.org, and was first described in Pattyn et al., RTPrimerDB: the Real-Time PCR primer and probe database. Nucleic Acids Research, 2003, 31(1): 122-123 (full text)




last update on 2010-03-22