Transcriptional responses of the two-spotted spider mite (Tetranychus urticae) after transfer to different plant hosts

We generated 38-bp Illumina reads from messenger RNA libraries from mites transferred from their preferred laboratory host, bean (Phaseolus vulgaris cv. California Red Kidney), to one of three hosts: bean, Arabidopsis thaliana (Bla-2 accession) and the tomato (Solanum lycopersicum; genotype Heinz 1706). Larvae were carefully collected from bean plants and transferred to the treatment plant. Mites were reared on these plants for ~24 hours, after which mites were collected for mRNA library preparation. Samples were a mix of males and females. The goal of the study was to identify genes that may underlie the ability of mites to be herbivores on different host plants. Overall design: Mites were transferred from host bean plants to two non-preferred hosts (Arabidopsis thaliana and tomato). RNA was then collected, and RNA-seq was performed on the Illumina platform. For each of three host plants, three biological replicates were generated.