User:SnarkieGoblin/sandbox

Tribolium castaneum as a model organism
The Red Flour beetle has played an important role as a model organism serving as a model for development and functional genomics. Compared to Drosophila, the Red Flour beetle more closely represents the development of other insects. In 2008, the genome of Tribolium castaneum was sequenced, analyzed, and compared to other organisms such as Drosophila. During development, anterior-posterior patterning is normally regulated by the bicoid gene in Drosophila. However, in the Red Flour beetle, there is no bicoid orthologue, but instead the genes orthodenticle and hunchback substitute for bicoid in anterior patterning.

Red Flour beetles are particularly useful for doing RNAi experiments. RNA interference are RNA that degrade mRNA transcripts to show a knock-down of gene function. Compared to Drosophila, RNAi have a greater response in the Red Flour beetle, making it ideal for knock-down experiments.

CRISPR technology has been shown to be useful in studying Tribolium castaneum. In one experiment, researchers used CRISPR to knock-out the E-cadherin gene. This resulted in developmental issues in dorsal closure. RNAi knock-down of E-cadherin shows the same effect. This shows that CRISPR technology and gene editing are viable options for studying the Red Flour beetle as an insect model organism.