Fig 7. Fat body–specific vitellogenin gene expression regulates host-seeking behaviour.

(a) Verification of the Vg-2 knockdown efficiency after dsRNA injection via RT-qPCR. dsRNA was injected into newly emerged females (<24 h of age), and gene expression of Vg-1 and Vg-2 was measured in the fat bodies of 5-day–old females. 4 biological replicates (i.e., pools of 4 fat bodies) were used for each injection type. Injection of dsVg2 significantly reduced Vg-2 gene expression compared to controls (dsGFP-injected females) but did not affect Vg-1 gene expression based on Welsh’s t test. (b) The dsVg2 knockdown significantly increased the host-seeking behaviour of 4- to 5-day–old females (i.e., 3–4 days after dsRNA injection) based on pairwise Mantel–Haenszel χ² tests with Benjamini–Hochberg FDR correction. N = 3 (days 1–2), N = 6 (days 3–4). The underlying data can be found within S2 Data. dsGFP, double-stranded RNA of the Green Fluorescent Protein; dsRNA, double-stranded RNA; dsVg2, double-stranded RNA of Vitellogenin 2; FDR, False Discovery Rate; RT-qPCR, Reverse Transcriptase quantitative polymerase chain reaction; Vg, vitellogenin.