RNA-sequencing of Aedes aegypti feeding appendages

To better understand how female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes detect blood and nectar, we performed Illumina RNA-seq on the stylet and labium, which are the sensory appendages used in blood and nectar feeding, respectively. Since only females feed on blood, we also profiled the male stylet as a control tissue to highlight female-specific transcripts. For each of the 3 tissues, we sequenced 4 biological replicates for a total of 12 samples. Samples from all tissues were barcoded and pooled in an equal ratio before distributing the pool across 3 NextSeq lanes (3 technical replicates per biological replicate).