RNA-seq analysis comparing gene expression in Drosophila sea mutants and controls

The goal of this study was to determine how decreased mitochondrial citrate export influences gene expression in Drosophila larvae. RNA was isolated from Drosopohila sea mutants, which exhibiti decreased mitochondrial citrate transport activity, and a genetically-matched control strain during mid-L3 development. Larvae were collected as described in Li, H., Tennessen, J. M. Preparation of Drosophila Larval Samples for Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS)-based Metabolomics. J. Vis. Exp. (136), e57847, doi:10.3791/57847 (2018). RNA was purified from staged mid-L3 larvae using a RNeasy Mini Kit (Qiagen). Sequencing was performed using an Illumina NextSeq500 platform with 75 bp sequencing module generating 41 bp paired-end reads. After the sequencing run, demultiplexing was performed with bcl2fastq v2.20.0.422.