Determining the genetic code of a key gene could
make the red flour beetle (Tribolium castaneum), a major problem in
grain storage facilities, easier to track and may offer new ways to control
this pest. Click the image for more information about it.
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Key Red Flour Beetle Gene Sequenced
By Sharon
Durham
July 31, 2008 Tracking the red flour beetle in
grain storage facilities could become easier, thanks to research to identify a
key gene in this grain-feeding pest.
Researchers with the Agricultural
Research Service (ARS), Purdue
University, the Human Genome
Sequencing Center at Baylor College of
Medicine, Kansas State University,
and Exelixis, Inc. in South San
Francisco, Calif., have determined the genetic code of the so-called
"selfish" gene in the red flour beetle (Tribolium castaneum).
This genetic information may offer a potential tracking tool for facilities
where grain is stored. Operators could use the information to determine whether
beetles are local or from a distant location--and even to develop a plan to
control infestations.
ARS entomologist
Richard
Beeman and molecular biologist
Marcé
D. Lorenzen at the agency's
Grain
Marketing and Production Research Center in Manhattan, Kan., deciphered the
genetic code of the "selfish" gene. The research was reported in the
Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences.
The selfish gene is important because red flour beetles that don't inherit
it from their mother don't survive. It is called the selfish gene because,
whether beneficial or deleterious, it ensures its own perpetuation through the
population. These genes are widespread in natural populations of red flour
beetles, but are otherwise unknown in the invertebrate world.
According to Beeman, the discovery in red flour beetle may provide a useful
vehicle for driving desirable genes into populations, since the gene spreads
almost like a disease, and since hitchhiker genes can be attached to it.
Malaria researchers think other, similar genes introduced into mosquito
populations could reduce the spread of mosquito-borne malaria infections. It
may be possible to "attach" another gene to the malaria gene that
could negate or minimize its function, thus impeding mosquitoes from spreading
the disease.
ARS is a scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.