Fig. 6

RT-PCR of sex-specific Bdtra and Bddsx transcripts in the wild strain, GSS, and tra RNAi-treated GSS. a Primers 1B-F and 2B-R1, flanking male-specific exons ms3 and ms4, were used to detect the presence of male- and female-specific tra transcripts (960 and 626 bp, respectively). Lanes 1, 4, and 7 are derived from male cDNA templates of wild-type, GSS (brown pupae (BP)), and RNAi-treated GSS (BP), respectively. Likewise, lanes 2 and 5 are derived from female cDNA templates of wild-type and GSS (white pupae (WP)), respectively. Lane 8 is derived from a pseudomale (WP). Lanes 3, 6, and 9 are negative controls without RT (−ve). b Primers c4 (common exon) and m (male-specific exon) were used to detect the male-specific dsx transcript (484 bp). Likewise, primers c3 (common exon) and f (female-specific exon) were used to detect the female-specific dsx transcript (677 bp) [44]. These two pairs of primers were used separately with the same cDNA templates as used in (a). However, the banding pattern in each lane came from the pool RT-PCR products that can detect the male- and female- specific dsx transcripts.