Figure 1

Electrophoretic analysis of total RNA samples from the abdomen of adult female Aedes aegypti obtained using a Biolanalyzer 2100. Adult mosquitoes were harvested at 24 (upper) or 48-hours (lower) post-blood meal and fixed with one of the following seven fixatives: 1) fresh frozen mosquitoes (control), 2) Bouin's, 3) Cal-Lite, 4) Carnoy's, 5) Formoy's, 6) NBF, 7) 4% paraformaldehyde, and 8) zinc formalin; M denotes size markers. In the 24-hour post-blood meal RNA, all but two, Formoy's and NBF, have intense discrete bands corresponding to 18/28S RNA that indicate quality RNA with minimal degradation. In the 48-hour post-blood meal samples, however, only Carnoy's, Bouin's, and zinc formalin-fixed samples display visible 18/28S RNA bands, suggesting these three fixatives preserve the mosquito RNA better than the other four fixatives can.