Cover image

Visual markers, in the form of fluorescent proteins such as the green fluorescent protein (GFP), are commonly used in transgenic mosquitoes to track a genetic construct and/or to evaluate the expression pattern of a gene of interest. Such analyses typically first require the screening of a large number of mosquitoes under the fluorescence microscope to identify individuals expressing the fluorescent genetic marker of interest. In this issue, Eric Marois describes a fast and efficient medium-throughput method for the manual screening of fluorescent mosquito larvae (doi:10.1101/pdb.prot108306). The cover image shows a transgenic Aedes albopictus larva expressing GFP in its imaginal discs (the embryonic primordia of future wings and legs), which can be seen as small sacks of cells in the thorax. Image provided by Eric Marois.