Data from: Transcriptomic responses to the consumption of nuptial food gifts by female decorated crickets

Nuptial food gifts offered by males to females at mating are shaped by sexual conflict, allowing males direct access to female physiology. However, a molecular dissection of their effect on females is rare. In decorated crickets, the male's nuptial gift comprises part of the male's spermatophore, the spermatophylax, which functions to deter the female from prematurely removing the sperm-containing portion, the ampulla, from her genital opening. However, ingested spermatophylax compounds and proteins contained in the ampulla could also influence female physiology and behavior to the male's benefit. We investigated how mating per se and these two distinct routes of potential male-mediated manipulation influence the transcriptional response of females. We conducted an RNA-sequencing experiment on the gut and head tissue from females for whom consumption of nuptial food gifts and receipt of an ejaculate had been independently manipulated. In the gut tissue, we found that females not permitted to feed during mating exhibit a decreased expression of many genes, which seems to be caused by reduced gut function, but this was countered by female feeding on the spermatophylax or a sham gift. In the head tissue, we found only low numbers of differentially expressed genes, but a gene co-expression network analysis revealed that both the attachment of the ampulla and the consumption of the spermatophylax independently induce their own distinct patterns of gene expression. This study provides evidence that spermatophylax feeding alters the female post-mating transcriptomic response in decorated crickets, highlighting its potential to mediate sexual conflict in this system.