During the lifespan experiments, we carried out parallel sampling of wasps for qPCR analysis. The
PrimeScript™ One Step RT-PCR Kit (Takara, Japan) was utilized to synthesize cDNA. For qPCR reactions,
ChamQTM SYBR qPCRMaster Mix (Without ROX) (Vazyme Biotech Co., Ltd.) was employed. The qPCR reaction volume was 25 µL with 10 ng cDNA as the template. Each sample was subjected to three biologically independent replicates. Initially, we ensured the specificity of each primer pair. At the end of each qPCR reaction, we included a melt curve ranging from 60°C to 95°C. We performed qPCR for templates with serial dilutions ranging from 10 to 100,000, respectively, to determine the efficiency of the primers and calculate their efficiency values. We selected appropriate primers for gene expression profile determinations based on the specificity and efficiency verifications. 18S ribosome RNA (18S) was used as the reference gene. To calculate relative mRNA expression levels, we used the 2
−ΔΔCt method (Livak and Schmittgen, 2001 (
link)). We plotted the obtained data using
GraphPad Prism6 for Mac, where the relative expression levels of genes were presented as means ± SEM. The statistical analysis was performed using two-way ANOVA, and differences were considered significant when
p < 0.05.
Lao S., Xiong S., Fang Q, & Ye G. (2023). Identification and functional analysis of αB-crystallins in Pteromalus puparum. Frontiers in Physiology, 14, 1214835.