RNA-Seq of eye tissue from a seasonally plastic temperate butterfly
RNA-Seq of eye tissue from a seasonally plastic temperate butterfly
In 2019, 2020, and 2021 we caught wild butterflies in Summer (June/July) and Fall (late September/October) in Arkansas, USA grasslands. Butterflies were caught in the 90 minute period before and after solar noon and were decapitated within 5 minutes of capture. Heads were immediately placed in 1000 μL RNALater (Invitrogen) and placed on ice. We took collected heads back to the lab and stored them at 4° C overnight before transferring to -20° C.  From heads, we dissected out retinal tissue, which  included a thin coating of lamina that was impossible to remove without removing underlying eye tissue.  Dissection occurred immediately prior to RNA purification in RNALater Solution. Tissue was homogenized with mortar and pestle and purified with Nucleopsin minikits (Machery-Nagel). We sent purified RNA samples to Novogene for cDNA library prep (polyA enrichment).