Developmental stage-specific gene expression in the two-spotted spider mite (Tetranychus urticae)

We generated 77-bp Illumina reads from single messenger RNA libraries from four diverse developmental stages of the two-spotted spider mite to maximally capture the complement of transcribed sequences across development. Adult, nymphal, larvae and embryonic stages were separated using sieves of various pore sizes, and mites of various developmental stages were carefully selected for transcriptome library preparation. Samples were a mix of males and females to capture male and female patterns of transcription, and were reared on beans (Phaseolus vulgaris cv California Red Kidney). The RNA-Seq data was used for validation of gene models predicted by EuGene, and to study patterns of gene expression across development. Gene expression for spider mites from adult, nymph, larvae and embryonic developmental stages was examined (technical replicates were generated).