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. 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.