Table 3. Assessment of RNA integrity by the relative abundance of short and long qPCR products of three stable reference genes over differing storage times in pierced Varroa in RNA-Later at room temperature.

Gene	Time (Days)	Short Product (Ct value)	Long Product (Ct value)	Short: Long Ratio	P a
	0	16.75 ± 0.37	22.97 ± 0.90	0.73 ± 0.007	-
HSP90	3	17.04 ± 0.13	23.30 ± 0.53	0.73 ± 0.008	>0.05
	10	17.68 ± 0.40	24.45 ± 0.71	0.72 ± 0.003	>0.05
	0	23.39 ± 0.01	25.32 ± 0.42	0.92 ± 0.005	-
TBP	3	23.56 ± 0.91	25.99 ± 0.23	0.91 ± 0.007	>0.05
	10	23.30 ± 0.91	25.72 ± 0.26	0.91 ± 0.005	>0.05
	0	22.71 ± 0.55	22.72 ± 0.47	1.00 ± 0.002	-
SDHA	3	23.34 ± 0.53	23.18 ± 0.36	1.01 ± 0.004	>0.05
	10	23.52 ± 0.24	23.32 ± 0.11	1.01 ± 0.003	>0.05

Data presented as Means ± SD, n = 3.

^a Short: Long ratios compared against values on Day 0 by Student’s t-test