Ae. aegypti transcriptional bloodmeal response with Zika virus

The purpose of this experiment was to determine whether microbiota-mediated responses to Zika infection in Aedes aegypti are affected by mosquito life stage. Adult female Ae. aegypti were treated with an antibiotic cocktail (Pen-Strep-Kan) either during pupation or post-eclosion, then presented with a bloodmeal with or without Zika virus. Each sample is mRNA extracted from a pool of 5 mosquitoes, 2 days post-bloodmeal, done in triplicate. Mosquito groups are identified by no antibiotics (Ctrl), antibiotic during pupation (AbP), and antibiotic as adults (AbA), and their bloodmeal status is either before bloodfeed (before), blood only (mock), or blood containing ZIKV (zika).