Transcriptomic analysis of masked birch caterpillars, Drepana arcuata (Lepidoptera: Drepanoidea),

We assembled larval transcriptome of D. arcuata using RNA-seq data from both social and solitary instars, and then conducted differential gene expression analysis between the two behavioural instars. This revealed a large number of transcripts that were differential expressed between the two behavioral states, including some transcripts coding for gene products that have been previously implicated in social behaviour in other insects. Illumina NextSeq 500 150bp paired-end RNA seq data sequenced from social early (I,II) and solitary late instars (IV,V, followed by de novo transcriptome assembly (Trinity) that was used as reference to conduct differential gene expression analysis using RNA seq data from social early vs solitary late instars (RSEM, edgeR)