Red flour beetle (Tribolium castaneum): From population genetics to functional genomics

Review (Published online: 02-08-2018)

4. Red flour beetle (Tribolium castaneum): From population genetics to functional genomics

Harshit Kumar, Manjit Panigrahi, Supriya Chhotaray, V. Bhanuprakash, Rahul Shandilya, Arvind Sonwane and Bharat Bhushan

Veterinary World, 11(8): 1043-1046

Harshit Kumar: Division of Animal Genetics, ICAR - Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Bareilly - 243 122, Uttar Pradesh, India.

Manjit Panigrahi: Division of Animal Genetics, ICAR - Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Bareilly - 243 122, Uttar Pradesh, India.

Supriya Chhotaray: Division of Animal Genetics, ICAR - Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Bareilly - 243 122, Uttar Pradesh, India.

V. Bhanuprakash: Division of Animal Genetics, ICAR - Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Bareilly - 243 122, Uttar Pradesh, India.

Rahul Shandilya: Division of Animal Genetics, ICAR - Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Bareilly - 243 122, Uttar Pradesh, India.

Arvind Sonwane: Division of Animal Genetics, ICAR - Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Bareilly - 243 122, Uttar Pradesh, India.

Bharat Bhushan: Division of Animal Genetics, ICAR - Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Bareilly - 243 122, Uttar Pradesh, India.

doi: 10.14202/vetworld.2018.1043-1046

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Article history: Received: 17-03-2018, Accepted: 25-06-2018, Published online: 02-08-2018

Corresponding author: Manjit Panigrahi

E-mail: manjit707@gmail.com

Citation: Kumar H, Panigrahi M, Chhotaray S, Bhanuprakash V, Shandilya R, Sonwane A, Bhushan B (2018) Red flour beetle (Tribolium castaneum): From population genetics to functional genomics, Veterinary World, 11(8): 1043-1046.

Abstract

Tribolium castaneum is a small and low maintenance beetle that has emerged as a most suitable insect model for studying developmental biology and functional genetic analysis. Diverse population genetic studies have been conducted using Tribolium as the principal model to establish basic facts and principles of inbreeding experiments and response to the selection and other quantitative genetics fundamentals. The advanced molecular genetic studies presently focused on the use of Tribolium as a typical invertebrate model for higher diploid eukaryotes. After a whole genome sequencing of Tribolium, many areas of functional genomics were unraveled, which enabled the use of it in many technical approaches of genomics. The present text reviews the use of Tribolium in techniques such as RNAi, transgenic studies, immune priming, immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization, gene sequencing for characterization of microRNAs, and gene editing using engineered endonuclease. In contrast to Drosophila, the T. castaneum holds a robust systemic RNAi response, which makes it an excellent model for comparative functional genetic studies.

Keywords: functional genomics, hox gene, insertional mutagenesis, RNAi, Tribolium.

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