1. Human Genome Sequencing Center, and
2. Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, Texas 77030, USA.
3. Division of Biology, Ackert Hall, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas 66506, USA.
4. Grain Marketing and Production Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, 1515 College Avenue, Manhattan, Kansas 66502, USA.
5. Johann Friedrich Blumenbach Institute, Department of Developmental Biology, Georg August University, von-Liebig-Weg-11, 37077 Göttingen, Germany.
6. Department of Biological Sciences, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan 48202, USA.
7. Center for Functional and Comparative Insect Genomics, and Department of Cell Biology and Comparative Zoology, Institute of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.
8. Institute for Biology, Department of Developmental Biology, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen, Staudtstrasse 5, 91058 Erlangen, Germany.
9. Institute for Developmental Biology, University of Cologne, 50674 Cologne, Germany.
10. Animal Genetics, Interfaculty Institute for Cell Biology, University of Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 28, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
11. Department of Genetics, University of Cologne, 50674 Cologne, Germany.
12. Department of Genetic Medicine and Development, University of Geneva Medical School, 1 rue Michel-Servet, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland.
13. Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, 1 rue Michel-Servet, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland.
14. Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, SW7 2AZ London, UK.
15. Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute, BACPAC Resources, 747 52nd Street, Oakland, California 94609, USA.
16. Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, 7 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA.
17. AgraQuest, Inc., 1530 Drew Avenue, Davis, California 95616, USA.
18. Department of Entomology, Waters Hall, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas 66506, USA.
19. Department of Animal Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA.
20. Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204, USA.
21. Department of Entomology, University of California, 900 University Avenue, Riverside, California 92521, USA.
22. Department of Biochemistry, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, USA.
23. Department of Biology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas 76019, USA.
24. Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405, USA.
25. Department of Plant Protection, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China.
26. Department of Integrated Biosciences, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, University of Tokyo, Bioscience Building 501, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8562, Japan.
27. European School of Molecular Medicine and Telethon Institute of Genetics and Medicine, Via Pietro Castellino 111, 80131 Napoli, Italy.
28. Department of Entomology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA.
29. Institute for Microbiology and Genetics, Department of Bioinformatics, University of Göttingen, Goldschmidtstrae 1, 37077 Göttingen, Germany.
30. Department of Computer Science, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, UK.
31. Softberry Inc., 116 Radio Circle, Suite 400, Mount Kisco, New York 10549, USA.
32. National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, Maryland 20894, USA.
33. GlaxoSmithKline, Collegeville, Pennsylvania 19426, USA.
34. Department of Structural Biology and Bioinformatics, University of Geneva Medical School, 1 rue Michel-Servet, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland.
35. Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Nagoya University, Chikusa, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan.
36. European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Meyerhofstrasse 1, D-69117 Heidelberg, Germany.
37. Max-Delbruck-Centre for Molecular Medicine, Berlin-Buch, Robert-Roessle-Strasse 10, 13092 Berlin, Germany.
38. Institut de Genomique Fonctionnelle de Lyon, Equipe de Zoologie Moleculaire, ENS Lyon, Universite Lyon 1, CNRS UMR5242, INRA, IFR128, 46 Allee d'Italie, 69364 Lyon cedex 07, France.
39. Zoological Institute of the University Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zürich, Switzerland.
40. Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Tinbergen Building, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK.
41. CEMAGREF, Laboratoire d'écotoxicologie, 3bis quai Chauvea, CP220 69336 Lyon cedex 09, France.
42. Institute of Entomology ASCR, Branisovká 31, Ceské Budejovice 370 05, Czech Republic.
43. Department of Entomology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1630 Linden Drive, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA.
44. Institute of Biology, Molecular Ecology, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg Hoher Weg 4, 06099 Halle (Saale), Germany.
45. Department of Molecular Biology and Pharmacology, Washington University in St Louis School of Medicine, 3600 Cancer Research Building, 660 South Euclid Avenue, St Louis, Missouri 63110, USA.
46. Université Paris 7 – Denis Diderot, Centre de genetique moleculaire – CNRS UPR 2167, 1 Avenue de la Terrasse, 91198 Gif-sur-Yvette cedex, France.
47. MRC Functional Genetics Unit, Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QX, UK.
48. School of Integrative Biology & School of Molecular and Microbial Sciences, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia.
49. Department of Molecular Sciences and Center of Excellence in Genomics and Bioinformatics, University of Tennessee, Memphis, Tennessee 38163, USA.
50. Department of Entomology, Daljit and Elaine Sarkaria Professor of Insect Physiology and Toxicology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA.
51. Department of Biochemistry, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas 66506, USA.
52. Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma 74078, USA.
53. A. N. Belozersky Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology, Moscow State University, Leninskie Gory, Moscow 119992, Russia.
54. USDA-ARS Bee Research Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland 20705, USA.
55. Institute of Phytopathology and Applied Zoology, Interdisciplinary Research Center, Justus-Liebig-University of Giessen, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 26-32, D-35392 Giessen, Germany.
56. Umea Centre for Molecular Pathogenesis, Umea University, Umea SE-90187, Sweden.
57. Institut Biol Moléc Cell, CNRS, Strasbourg 67084, France.
58. National Institute of Agrobiological Science, Division of Insect Science, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8634, Japan.
59. Institute of General Zoology, University of Jena, Erbertstrasse 1, D-07743 Jena, Germany.
60. Department of Animal Physiology, University of Marburg, Karl-von-Frisch Strasse 8, D-35032 Marburg, Germany.
61. Department of Animal Physiology and Neurobiology, University of Leuven, Naamsestraat 59, BE-3000 Leuven, Belgium.
62. Institute for Forest Zoology and Forest Conservation, Büsgenweg 3 D-37077 Göttingen, Germany.
63. Visual Sciences and ARC Centre for the Molecular Genetics of Development, Research School of Biological Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia.
64. Present address: Bioscience Institute, University of Rostock, Albert-Einstein-Strasse 3, 18059 Rostock, Germany.

Correspondence to: Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to S.R. (Email: stephenr@bcm.edu).

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Abstract

Tribolium castaneum is a member of the most species-rich eukaryotic order, a powerful model organism for the study of generalized insect development, and an important pest of stored agricultural products. We describe its genome sequence here. This omnivorous beetle has evolved the ability to interact with a diverse chemical environment, as shown by large expansions in odorant and gustatory receptors, as well as P450 and other detoxification enzymes. Development in Tribolium is more representative of other insects than is Drosophila, a fact reflected in gene content and function. For example, Tribolium has retained more ancestral genes involved in cell–cell communication than Drosophila, some being expressed in the growth zone crucial for axial elongation in short-germ development. Systemic RNA interference in T. castaneum functions differently from that in Caenorhabditis elegans, but nevertheless offers similar power for the elucidation of gene function and identification of targets for selective insect control.