Real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) has been widely used in gene expression analysis. Selection of suitable reference genes is the first step in analyzing the expression variation of target genes accurately by qPCR. In the present study, we analyzed the expression patterns of eight candidate reference genes including six housekeeping genes (ACT7, eIF, EF1a, GAPDH, β-TUB and 18S rRNA) and two novel reference genes (BADH and TIP41) in different organs of dove tree (Davidia involucrata) by qPCR. Three softwares, geNorm, NormFinder and BestKeeper, w...