Whole transcriptome sequencing of thermally stressed Bombus vosnesenskii thoracic muscle

Species with large geographic ranges over heterogenous landscapes need to be able to adapt to thermal gradients temporally and spatially. Bombus vosnesenskii queens were collected from low and high elevation sites in Southern and Northern parts of their range and colonies reared in the laboratory under common conditions. Workers were then randomly assigned to control or thermal stress (heating or cooling until loss of physiological function) treatments, and immediately stored for RNA preservation. Whole RNA was extracted from the thoracic muscle of worker caste bumble bees and sequenced on an Illumina HiSeq 2500.