Spongy moth gene expression during female pupal development

Female adult spongy moths vary in their flight capacity depending upon their origin and subspecies. Asian spongy moth (Lymantria dispar asiatica) females (such as the RM strain here) can fly whereas European spongy moth (Lymantria dispar dispar) females cannot (such as the CT strain here). We hypothesized that the genetic origins of these differences in flight capacity would be reflected in differences in gene expression during metamorphosis (the pupal stage). To test this, we compared the gene expression at days 1, 3, 5, 8, and 11 of pupal development of female pupae from CT and RM strains. Overall there are 30 female pupa samples, two strains (RM and CT), sampled at days 1, 3, 5, 8, and 11. Each sample type has 3 biological replicates (individual pupae).