First pest insect to have genome sequenced.

• Position: Red Flour Beetle - Brief article

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, Manhattan, 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 largely is because of the work of Susan Brown and Rob Denell, both professors of biology. They worked in collaboration with Richard Beeman, research entomologist at the Department of Agriculture Grain Marketing and Production Research Center.

The team helped sequence Tribolium's genome, making it one of the earliest insect genomes to be sequenced and the first pest insect to be studied in this way. "We've...