Fig. 3

Relative expression of Nasrat, Closca, Polehole, and Nudel during the first gonotrophic cycle in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. Tissue-specific and developmental expression patterns of Nasrat (A), Closca (B), Polehole (C), and Nudel (D) during the first gonotrophic cycle are shown in the left-hand graphs. Transcript expression was analyzed by qPCR using cDNAs prepared from thorax (TX), fat body (FB), midgut (MG), ovaries (OV), and Malpighian tubules (MT) in sugar-fed only (SF) or 24 and 48 h PBM. Expression levels were also determined in larvae (Lv), pupae (Pp), and adult males (M). Expression in fat body of SF mosquitoes was set to 1.0. Nasrat, Closca, and Polehole are predominantly expressed in ovaries (highlighted with a red dotted rectangle). Right-hand graphs show more detailed analysis in mosquito ovaries during and after the first gonotrophic cycle was also analyzed by qPCR. Samples from SF to 36 h PBM include entire ovaries, whereas those from 48 h to 14 days PBM include only primary follicles isolated from ovaries. Expression in SF ovaries was set to 1.0 and expression levels for Nasrat, Closca, Polehole, and Nudel were normalized to S7 ribosomal protein transcript levels in the same cDNA samples. Data were collected from three unique mosquito cohorts. The mean ± SEM are shown as horizontal lines