FIGURE 6.

The effect of knockdown of Rhopr-SIFa transcript on R. prolixus feeding using double stranded RNA (dsRNA). Insects were injected with dsSIFa and were fed on day 2 when Rhopr-SIFa transcript expression level was 92% less relative to dsARG-injected controls. Error bars represent standard error of the mean. (A) Insects injected with dsSIFa feed significantly less than dsARG-injected controls. Asterisks indicate significant differences compared to the control group (unpaired t-test, ***p < 0.001) (n = 20 dsSIFa, n = 20 dsARG). (B) Weights of dsARG and dsSIFa-injected insects (injection 2 days prior to feeding) over the course of 4 and 24 h after feeding to depict diuresis. Rates of weight loss did not differ significantly between treatment and control groups, as determined by fitting the data using linear regression and analyzing the slopes for significance using an F-test (p > 0.05). (C) Number of insects for each interval of fed body weight relative to unfed weight, where “x” represents “n” multiple of unfed body weight. Note that 45% of insects injected with dsSIFa took less than 7X their unfed weight in blood versus 5% of those injected with dsARG.