Leptinotarsa decemlineata Transcriptome or Gene expression

The Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata) is a major pest and a serious threat to potato cultivation throughout the northern hemisphere. Despite its high importance for invasion biology, phenology and pest management, little is known about L. decemlineata from a genomic perspective. We subjected European L. decemlineata adult and larval transcriptome samples to 454-FLX massively-parallel DNA sequencing to characterize a basal set of genes from this species. We created a combined assembly of an adult and a larval dataset including the publicly available midgut larval Roche 454 reads and provided basic annotation and description of diapause-specific genes and genes involved in pesticide and Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) resistance. This work provides a foundation for comparative studies with other species of insects.