Fig 6. Confirmation of the ‘vitellogenic wave’ in the fat body via RT-qPCR in an independent experiment including different sugar diets.

(A) While Vg-2 consistently showed the expected expression pattern, Vg-1 was also up-regulated in water-fed females in this experiment, making Vg-2 the more likely candidate gene regulating host-seeking behaviour. (B) Vitellogenic carboxypeptidase and cathepsin B consistently display the same ‘vitellogenic wave’ expression pattern as Vg-2. Results are expressed as log₁₀ deltaCT ± SE, using the Ribosomal Protein S17 as a reference gene. Letters indicate significant differences based on the Kruskal–Wallis rank-sum test followed by Dunn’s post hoc test with Benjamini–Hochberg correction (Vg-1) and one-way ANOVA, followed by Tukey’s post hoc test (Vg-2, vitellogenic carboxypeptidase, cathepsin B). N = 3–4 pools, each containing the fat bodies from 4–7 females. The underlying data can be found within S2 Data. RT-qPCR, Reverse Transcriptase quantitative polymerase chain reaction; Vg, vitellogenin.