house keeping gene - (May/10/2006 )

i know its a stupid question
but i want to understand clearly what is "house keeping gene"

My understanding is that housekeeping genes are those that are involved in ubiquitous processes. This means there is less differential expression or activity between cell and tissue types but they are always expressed. For example beta-actin is expressed in basically every cell without exception (if this is not true someone please correct me). It is therefore a housekeeping gene because it is involved in a looking after every cell.

A housekeeping gene is typically a constitutive gene that is transcribed at a relatively constant level. The housekeeping gene's products are typically needed for maintenance of the cell. Housekeeping genes are used as internal standards in quantitative polymerase chain reaction since it is generally assumed that their expression is unaffected by experimental conditions.

Some common housekeeping genes utilized include:

* actin
* GAPDH
* aldolase
* hexokinase
* cyclophilin
(wikipedia)

hi
I agree with the members house keeping gene means that a gene is continously expressing with out taking any rest ok