transcriptome analysis of Tenebrio molitor pupae. Tenebrio molitor

The mealworm beetle Tenebrio molitor is found widely as a natural pest that infests stored products. Its relatively large size, ease of rearing and handling, and short generation times make it serve as an attractive model laboratory organism for studies in immunology. However, little is know about the molecular mechanisms responsible for it. Here, we performed de novo transcriptome analysis of the pupae of Tenebrio molitor using short-read sequencing technology (Illumina). We generated 26,666,668 reads assembled into 71,514 unigenes. After Gene Ontology (GO) and KEGG Orthology (KO) annotation, 51,301 and 38,875 unigenes were assigned to GO and KO categories, respectively, and 205 predicted pathways were created. The annotation revealed a large number of genes associated immunity. These data provide a discovery platform for identification of interest target genes, lay the foundation for future functional genomics studies, and pave the way for globally in-depth study of candidate genes in immunity