During early embryogenesis the zygotic genome is transcriptionally silent and all mRNAs present are of maternal origin. The maternal-zygotic transition marks the time over which embryogenesis changes its dependence from ...

Background MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a novel class of gene regulators whose biogenesis involves hairpin structures called precursor miRNAs, or pre-miRNAs. A pre-miRNA is processed to make a miRNA:miRNA* duplex, which is then ...

Background An initial comparative genomic study of the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae and the yellow fever mosquito Aedes aegypti revealed striking differences in the genome assembly size and in the abundance of transposable ...

Background Mosquito eggshells show remarkable diversity in physical properties and structure consistent with adaptations to the wide variety of environments exploited by these insects. We applied proteomic, transcriptomic, ...

Background The maternal zygotic transition marks the time at which transcription from the zygotic genome is initiated and a subset of maternal RNAs are progressively degraded in the developing embryo. A number of early ...

Complementing genome sequence with deep transcriptome and proteome data could enable more accurate assembly and annotation of newly sequenced genomes. Here, we provide a proof-of-concept of an integrated approach for ...

Background In contrast to DNA-mediated transposable elements (TEs), retrotransposons, particularly non-long terminal repeat retrotransposons (non-LTRs), are generally considered to have a much lower propensity towards ...

Background Malaria is caused by Plasmodium parasites, which are transmitted via the bites of infected Anopheline mosquitoes. Midgut invasion is a major bottleneck for Plasmodium development inside the mosquito vectors. ...