In order to test the role of alpha-COPI in RER whorl formation, we used an efficient dsRNA based RNAi protocol we previously developed for knocking down expression of abundant midgut proteases in Ae. aegypti [31] . As shown in Figure 5 , the mean level of alpha-COPI transcripts in midguts of individual dsRNA-injected mosquitoes was .90% lower than the mean level in both uninjected mosquitoes and mosquitoes that had been injected with a control dsRNA from the firefly luciferase gene (Fluc). Since 100% of the alpha-COPI dsRNA injected mosquitoes we analyzed showed a similar decrease in alpha-COPI transcript levels ( Figure 5 ), we used this dsRNA injection protocol to knock down alpha-COPI expression in mosquitoes that were subsequently maintained on sugar alone (unfed), or fed an amino acid meal and sacrificed 120 min post-feeding.