Fig. 1

Schematic demonstration of the experimental design. F2 generation larvae hatched from a single egg clutch. Larvae and nymphs were fed on two experimental rabbits. Five newly molted female adult ticks (M tick group) were pooled as one sample and three biological replicates (BR) were prepared. Batches of ticks were placed under controlled experimental condition for 6 months to reach long-term starved condition (H tick group). Among the ticks, five female adult ticks were pooled as one sample and three biological replicates were prepared. The long-term starved ticks were fed on horse blood to become engorged, and manually removed on 8th day. The engorged female adult ticks were place under controlled experimental condition for 24 h before sample preparation (F tick group). Three engorged female ticks were pooled as one sample and 3 biological replicates were prepared. RNA was extracted at each time point and mode of state is represented by three independent libraries for each group. In total, the RNA-seq is based on nine pooled whole-tick libraries