Insects bear a stereotyped set of limbs, or ventral body appendages. In the highly derived dipteran Drosophila melanogaster, the homeodomain transcription factor encoded by the Distal-less (Dll) gene plays a major role in establishing distal limb structures. We have isolated the Dll orthologue (TcDll) from the beetle Tribolium castaneum, which, unlike Drosophila, develops well-formed limbs duri...

In Drosophila melanogaster, the iab-4/iab-8 locus encodes bi-directionally transcribed microRNAs that regulate the function of flanking Hox transcription factors. We show that bi-directional transcription, temporal and spatial expression patterns and Hox regulatory function of the iab-4/iab-8 locus are conserved between fly and the beetle Tribolium castaneum. Computational predictions suggest i...

Insects can rapidly adapt to environmental changes through physiological responses. The red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum is widely used as a model insect species. However, the stress-response system of this species remains unclear. Superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2) is a crucial antioxidative enzyme that is found in mitochondria. T. castaneum SOD2 (TcSOD2) is composed of 215 amino acids, and has...

Amomum maximum Roxb. is a perennial herb distributed in South China and Southeast Asia. The objective of this work was to analyze the chemical constituents and assess insecticidal and repellent activities of the essential oil from Amomum maximum fruits against Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) and Liposcelis bostrychophila (Badonnel). The essential oil was obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed ...

Assembly and super scaffolding with multiple genera. We examined experiments from 16 different genera to determine if the results seen for the Tribolium castaneum genome are typical for other genomes as well. The T. castaneum genome map N50 was found to be in the high end of the probability density distribution (Additional file 6; Figure 1). The same is true for the Tcas5.0 draft sequence assem...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs), are endogenous, ~22-nucleotide-long RNA molecules. They bind to the complementary sites on target mRNAs and regulate protein production of the target transcript by unknown mechanisms. Since the discovery of first miRNA in Caenorhabditis elegans, different approaches have been pursued for the prediction of miRNAs and their target(s). Because of many difficulties and limitatio...

Three standard foodstuff plastic packaging namely polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and polyvinylchloride (PVC) were evaluated for management of lesser grain borer Rhyzopertha dominica (F.) (Coleoptera: Bostrichidae) and red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae). Resistance parameters in packaging were recorded as punctures, holes, penetrations, sealing defe...

Down syndrome cell adhesion molecule 1 (Dscam1) has wide-reaching and vital neuronal functions although the role it plays in insect and crustacean immunity is less well understood. In this study, we combine different approaches to understand the roles that Dscam1 plays in fitness-related contexts in two model insect species. Contrary to our expectations, we found no short-term modulation of Dsc...

The expansion of dryeration may impose a further problem for insect control with protectants – the high grain temperatures during insecticide spraying. To assess the impact of this procedure on insecticide activity, maize grains at different temperatures (25, 30, 35, 40 and 45 °C) were sprayed with pirimiphos-methyl. Residue analyses were carried out every 30 days and insecticide biological act...