Identification of maternally-loaded RNA transcripts in unfertilized eggs of Tribolium castaneum

Using a tiled whole-genome microarray, we found that 58.2% of Tribolium castaneum genes are maternally loaded into eggs. Comparison of known Drosophila melanogaster maternal genes to our results showed widespread conservation of maternal function with T. castaneum. We also found many T. castaneum genes with previously identified gender or tissue specific expression were also maternally loaded into eggs. The microarray design also allowed the detection of 2315 and 4060 novel transcriptionally active regions greater in length than 100 bp in unfertilized and fertilized T. castaneum eggs, respectively. The primary objective of this study was to identify expressed regions of the Tribolium castaneum genome in unfertilized and fertilized eggs using a whole-genome tiled microarray. The whole RNA of 3 samples of virgin laid eggs and 3 samples of fertilized eggs were compaired.