Differential gene expression in two populations of the wood white butterfly (Leptidea sinapis) from Catalonia and Sweden reared on different host plants, Lotus dorycnium and Lotus corniculatus. Differential gene expression in two populations of the wood white butterfly (Leptidea sinapis) from Catalonia and Sweden reared on different host plants, Lotus dorycnium and Lotus corniculatus

The gene expression study is part of a larger study with the objectives to investigate two populations of the wood white butterfly with different hostplant use, by assessing the female host plant preference, larval growth and developmental time, differential gene expression and microbiome diversity and composition. The aim of the gene expression analysis is to explore whether the two populations have different expression profiles in response to the host plants suggesting local adaptation. Larvae from four Swedish females and seven Catalonian females were reared on Lotus dorycnium or L. corniculatus in a split brood design experiment. Larvae were collected at two developmental timepoints, instar 3 and instar 5. In instar 5 one larvae of each sex were collected. The study included in total 66 individuals. RNA from the abdomen was extracted with RNeasy mini kit. Sample 67-72 are RNA from gut tissue extracted with Trizol. Total RNA-libraries was constructed using TruSeq RNA with poly-A selection for multiplex sequencing on a single Illumina NovaSeq6000 S1 lane with 150 bp paired-end reads at the National Genomics Infrastructure (NGI), Science for Life Laboratory (SciLife) in Stockholm. The average coverage was appr 248 X per gene and sample. The raw reads for each sample is included.