Most of us hate to find the red flour beetle living happily in the flour sack in our pantries. But for several scientists at Kansas State University, and many others throughout the world, this pest of stored grain and grain products is the best organism for studying genetics.
The superior status of this beetle, Tribolium castaneum, as an experimental system is largely because of the work of two Kansas State University faculty, Susan Brown, professor of biology, and Rob Denell, university distinguished professor of biology. They worked in collaboration with Richard Beeman, research entomologist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Grain Marketing and Production Research Center in Manhattan.
This team won funding to get Tribolium’s genome sequenced, making it one of the earliest insect genomes to be sequenced and the first pest insect to be studied in this way.
“We’ve been able to exploit Tribolium’s ease of culture, short life cycle, and facile genetics to create an array of sophisticated methodologies,” Denell said. “It now joins the fruit fly Drosophila as a premier insect genetic system, and even offers advantages in some areas of study.”
The journal
Nature will publish an article March 27 announcing the sequencing of the beetle’s genetic material and summarizing the implications of this work.
“It’s really exciting to see the burst of activity in Tribolium studies that has accompanied the sequencing project,” Brown said. “This new information will greatly aid research on topics as diverse as insect pest management and the genetic control of development.”
The genomic sequence, genetic maps and gene information are available from the National Center for Biotechnical Information and at
http://www.beetlebase.org .
Source: Kansas State University
Related stories:
Scientists find new clues to explain Amazonian biodiversity
Ice age climate change and ancient flooding—but not barriers created by rivers—may have promoted the evolution of new insect species in the Amazon region of South America, a new study suggests.
Unlocking genome of world's worst insect pest
The Australian Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator the Hon Kim Carr, said – at the BIO 2008 International Convention in San Diego, California – that the team was expected to sequence the moth's genome in about four months.
Courtship pattern shaped by emergence of a new gene in fruit flies
When a young gene known as sphinx is inactivated in the common fruit fly, it leads to increased male-male courtship, scientists report in the May 27, 2008, issue of the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
DNA fingerprinting simplified
Agarose gel electrophoresis? Most teenagers wouldn’t have a clue what this scientific term means, but middle school student Andrew Trigiano knows the protocol inside and out. When Andrew was 12, his father Robert Trigiano, a professor at the University of Tennessee, was looking for an interesting science project for his son. Setting out to compare differences in popular brands of Easter egg dyes, Trigiano’s project soon grew into a full-blown scientific study and set of replicable classroom experiments.
Fruit fly phlebotomy holds neuroscience promise
Drawing blood from a fruit fly may only be slightly easier than getting it from a proverbial stone or turnip, but success could provide substantial benefits for neuroscientists.
Royal corruption is rife in the ant world
Far from being a model of social co-operation, the ant world is riddled with cheating and corruption – and it goes all the way to the top, according to scientists from the Universities of Leeds and Copenhagen.
Preserving the Hemlock
As part of an ongoing effort to preserve the imperiled eastern hemlock tree species, researchers from North Carolina State University have successfully located the most genetically diverse populations of the species in the southern portion of its range. They hope that by collecting the seeds from these trees the species–which is suffering both from insect infestation and prolonged drought conditions–can be saved from extinction.
Tropical winter habitat drives natal dispersal of young migratory birds
A new study by scientists at the Migratory Bird Center at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo shows that the factors determining where birds settle and nest in the first breeding season depends on the habitat they used during their first winter in the tropics. The determining factor in where a bird settles for its first breeding season relative to its hatching site—also known as natal dispersal—was previously unknown.