Embryonic Transcriptome of the Hover Fly Episyrphus balteatus (Syrphidae)

The transcriptome of E. balteatus embryos was sequenced at two successive time points during early embryogenesis: 0-0.5 hrs old embryos sampling pre-blastoderm stages prior to the onset of zygotic transcription, and 3-6 hrs old early embryos sampling blastoderm and gastrulation stages after the onset of zygotic transcription. cDNA libraries for each time point were normalized and sequenced using the 454 GS FLX Titanium platform. Because E. balteatus eggs were collected from plants infested with the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum, both libraries were contaminated with sequences of A. pisum. All reads that matched published A. pisum sequences with 95% or higher identity were therefore removed for E. balteatus specific analyses.