Pyrokinin receptor silencing in females of the southern cattle tick Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus is associated with a reproductive fitness cost

Table 2 Luciferase activity and silencing efficiency obtained from Rhipicephalus microplus BmE26 cells at 5 days post-transfection with dsRNAs targeting the Rhimi-PKR sequence

Treatment set	Treatment applied to R. microplus PKR dual LUC-expressing cells	Size of dsRNA (bp)^a	Luciferase ratio^b	Silencing compared to no added dsRNA (%)^c
Control (–)	No dsRNA	–	0.699827	0.0
Control (–)	dsRNA fsg	357	0.376921	22.9
1	dsRNA 762-913^d	207	0.011161	98.3
2	dsRNA 1485–1627^d	198	-0.039550	103.7

^aLength of the dsRNAs in bp including the amplified sequences and the 5'- and 3’-ends T7 tags
^bLuciferase ratio Steady-Glo/Nano-Glo
^cSilencing = 1 − (luciferase ratio for dsRNA treatments/luciferase ratio control value [no dsRNA])
^ddsRNAs used for the in vivo study

ISSN: 1756-3305