Gene expression data for body versus head samples for detection of genes with enriched expression in salivary glands of the spider mite Tetranychus urticae

Proteins produced in the salivary glands of arthropod herbivores can function as effectors to modify plant defense responses. To obtain a set of candidate, salivary gland specific genes for the mite herbivore Tetranychus urticae, mites were dissected and the head region was recovered. Specifically, the proterosoma was dissected from 250 mites. This includes the salivary glands, and other nearby tissue (given their small size, exact micro-dissection of salivary glands was not possible). As a reference for assessing differential expression to identify genes that might be salivary gland specific, three replicates of 100 whole mites were used. Female mites, which are much larger than males, were used in all cases for collection of RNA. mRNA profiles were generated for intact 100 adult female T. urticae mites (in triplicate) and for dissected proterosoma of 250 adult females