Dr. Richard Beeman Research Entomologist Stored Product Insect Research Unit Center for Grain & Animal Health Research 1515 College Ave. Manhattan, KS 66502 Voice: (785) 776-2710 Fax: (785) 537-5584 richard.beeman@ars.usda.gov www.ars.usda.gov/npa/cgahr/spiru/beeman

My research emphasis is on the genetics and molecular biology of insect pests of stored products.

I am currently involved in efforts to characterize genes that regulate resistance to insecticides and pathogens, develop DNA vectors for genetic engineering of pest and beneficial insects, discover and evaluate parasitic and lethal genes that occur naturally in pest insect populations, and develop molecular markers for population monitoring and resistance diagnosis.

Positional cloning of the maternally-acting, selfish gene, medea, in Tribolium castaneum

This poster documents the positional cloning of target genes in Tribolium by chromosome walking in a BAC library. Two genes, aureate and the unique, maternal selfish gene Medea, defined only by phenotypic effect, were cloned and mapped to the scabrous and highwire regions, respectively, using very high-resolution recombinational mapping. Confirmation will include molecular mapping of seven Medea revertant (knockout) lesions induced by radiation, mapping of one spontaneous and one radiation-induced mutant lesion in aureate, expression analysis of the candidate genes in mutant beetles, and molecular characterization of gene mutations.
     Poster

Tribolium molecular genetics

This site contains data and articles about the genetics of the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum, and related species. Work being done in Dr. Beeman's laboratory involves both standard and molecular approaches.
     Web Page

Which Phenoloxidase Catalyzes Insect Cuticle Tanning, Laccase or Tyrosinase?

Tanning or sclerotization is a vital process during insect development in which N-acylcatecholamines are oxidatively conjugated to cross-link proteins and stabilize the exoskeleton. The phenoloxidases laccase (Lac) and tyrosinase (Tyr) have been proposed to catalyze tanning, but evidence reported to date identifying the actual tanning enzyme has been inconclusive. To establish the involvement of either or both of these phenoloxidases in cuticle tanning, we performed RNA interference (RNAi) experiments using the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum. RNAi can be used to suppress specific messenger RNAs and generate loss-of-function phenotypes. We have knocked down phenoloxidase mRNAs and examined the phenotypes for effects on adult cuticle tanning. The results reported here demonstrate that laccase and not tyrosinase plays the major role in cuticle tanning.
     Poster

Magazine Articles

Grain Pest’s Own Genes Turned Against It

Beetle Mania

News, Miscellaneous

Scientists Plot Genetic Ploy Against Grain Pest / November 2, 2009 …

Agricultural Pest's Genome is Sequenced

Key Red Flour Beetle Gene Sequenced

How the Beetle Gets Its Shell

Probing the Genes of an Eccentric Beetle Pest

ARS Scientist Leads National Effort To Decipher Beetle's Genes

PDF	Chaudhari, S.S., Y. Arakane, C.A. Specht, B. Moussian, D.L. Boyle, Y. Park, K.J. Kramer, R.W. Beeman, and S. Muthukrishnan. 2011. Knickkopf protein protects and organizes chitin in the newly synthesized insect exoskeleton. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 108: 17028-17033.
PDF	Lu, Y., R.W. Beeman, J.F. Campbell, Y. Park, M.J. Aikins, K. Mori, K. Akasaka, S. Tamogami, and T.W. Phillips. 2011. Anatomical localization and stereoisomeric composition of Tribolium castaneum aggregation pheromones. Naturwissenschaften 98: 755-761.
PDF	Akasaka, K., S. Tamogami, R.W. Beeman, and K. Mori. 2011. Pheromone synthesis. Part 245: Synthesis and chromatographic analysis of the four stereoisomers of 4,8-dimethyldecanal, the male aggregation pheromone of the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum. Tetrahedron 67: 201-209.
PDF	Arakane, Y., M.C. Baguinon, S. Jasrapuria, S. Chaudhari, A. Doyungan, K.J. Kramer, S. Muthukrishnan, and R.W. Beeman. 2011. Both UDP N-acetyglucosamine pyrophosphorylases of Tribolium castaneum are critical for molting, survival and fecundity. Insect Biochem. Mol. Biol. 41: 42-50.
PDF	Lomakin, J., P.A. Huber, C. Eichler, Y. Arakane, K.J. Kramer, R.W. Beeman, M.R. Kanost, and S.H. Gehrke. 2011. Mechanical properties of the beetle elytron, a biological composite material. Biomacromolecules 12: 321-335.
PDF	Lomakin, J., Y. Arakane, K.J. Kramer, R.W. Beeman, M.R. Kanost, and S.H. Gehrke. 2010. Mechanical properties of elytra from Tribolium castaneum wild-type and body color mutant strains. J. Insect Physiol. 56: 1901-1906.
PDF	Alves, A.P., M.D. Lorenzen, R.W. Beeman, J.E. Foster, and B.D. Siegfried. 2010. RNA interference as a method for target-site screening in the western corn rootworm, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera. J. Insect Sci. 10: 1-16.
	Beeman, R.W., Y. Arakane, T.W. Phillips, and S. Muthukrishnan. 2010. Implications of the Tribolium genome project for pest biology. In M.O. Carvalho et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 10th International Working Conference on Stored Product Protection, 27 June to 2 July 2010, Estoril, Portugal. Julius Kühn-Institut, Berlin, Germany. pp. 63-71. (Link to article *)
	Semeao, A.A., J.F. Campbell, R.W. Beeman, R.J. Whitworth, P.E. Sloderbeck, and M.D. Lorenzen. 2010. Genetic structure of Tribolium castaneum populations in mills. In M.O. Carvalho et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 10th International Working Conference on Stored Product Protection, 27 June to 2 July 2010, Estoril, Portugal. Julius Kühn-Institut, Berlin, Germany. pp. 85-89. (Link to article *)
PDF	Broehan, G., Y. Arakane, R.W. Beeman, K.J. Kramer, S. Muthukrishnan, and H. Merzendorfer. 2010. Chymotrypsin-like peptidases from Tribolium castaneum: A role in molting revealed by RNA interference. Insect Biochem. Mol. Biol. 40: 274-283.
PDF	Arakane, Y., N.T. Dittmer, Y. Tomoyasu, K.J. Kramer, S. Muthukrishnan, R.W. Beeman, and M.R. Kanost. 2010. Identification, mRNA expression and functional analysis of several yellow family genes in Tribolium castaneum. Insect Biochem. Mol. Biol. 40: 259-266.
PDF	Jasrapuria, S., Y. Arakane, G. Osman, K.J. Kramer, R.W. Beeman, and S. Muthukrishnan. 2010. Genes encoding proteins with peritrophin A-type chitin-binding domains in Tribolium castaneum are grouped into three distinct families based on phylogeny, expression and function. Insect Biochem. Mol. Biol. 40: 214-227.
PDF	Kim, H.S., T. Murphy, J. Xia, D. Caragea, Y. Park, R.W. Beeman, M.D. Lorenzen, S. Butcher, J.R. Manak, and S.J. Brown. 2010. BeetleBase in 2010: revisions to provide comprehensive genomic information for Tribolium castaneum. Nucleic Acids Res. 38: D437-D442.
PDF	Begum, K., B. Li, R.W. Beeman, and Y. Park. 2009. Functions of ion transport peptide and ion transport peptide-like in the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum. Insect Biochem. Mol. Biol. 39: 717-725.
PDF	Trauner, J., J. Schinko, M.D. Lorenzen, T.D. Shippy, E.A. Wimmer, R.W. Beeman, M. Klingler, G. Bucher, and S.J. Brown. 2009. Large-scale insertional mutagenesis of a coleopteran stored grain pest, the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum, identifies embryonic lethal mutations and enhancer traps. BMC Biol. 7(73), 12 pp.
PDF	Arakane, Y., J. Lomakin, R.W. Beeman, S. Muthukrishnan, S.H. Gehrke, M.R. Kanost, and K.J. Kramer. 2009. Molecular and functional analyses of amino acid decarboxylases involved in cuticle tanning in Tribolium castaneum. J. Biol. Chem. 284: 16584-16594.
PDF	Arakane, Y., R. Dixit, K. Begum, Y. Park, C.A. Specht, H. Merzendorfer, K.J. Kramer, S. Muthukrishnan, and R.W. Beeman. 2009. Analysis of functions of the chitin deacetylase gene family in Tribolium castaneum. Insect Biochem. Mol. Biol. 39: 355-365.
PDF	Shippy, T.D., M. Ronshaugen, J. Cande, J.P. He, R.W. Beeman, M. Levine, S.J. Brown, and R.E. Denell. 2008. Analysis of the Tribolium homeotic complex: insights into mechanisms constraining insect Hox clusters. Dev. Genes Evol. 218:127-139.
PDF	Arakane, Y., B. Li, S. Muthukrishnan, R.W. Beeman, K.J. Kramer, and Y. Park. 2008. Functional analysis of four neuropeptides, EH, ETH, CCAP and bursicon, and their receptors in adult ecdysis behavior of the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum. Mech. Dev. 125: 984-995.
PDF	Arakane, Y., C.A. Specht, K.J. Kramer, S. Muthukrishnan, and R.W. Beeman. 2008. Chitin synthases are required for survival, fecundity and egg hatch in the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum. Insect Biochem. Mol. Biol. 38: 959-962.
PDF	Lorenzen, M.D., A. Gnirke, J. Margolis, J. Garnes, M. Campbell, J.J. Stuart, R. Aggarwal, S. Richards, Y. Park, and R.W. Beeman. 2008. The maternal-effect, selfish genetic element Medea is associated with a composite Tc1 transposon. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 105: 10085-10089.
PDF	Siebert, K.S., M.D. Lorenzen, S.J. Brown, Y. Park, and R.W. Beeman. 2008. Tubulin superfamily genes in Tribolium castaneum and the use of a tubulin promoter to drive transgene expression. Insect Biochem. Mol. Biol. 38: 749-755.
	Park, Y., and R.W. Beeman. 2008. Postgenomics of Tribolium: Targeting the endocrine regulation of diuresis. Entomol. Res. 38: 93-100. (Link to article *)
PDF	Wang, S., M.D. Lorenzen, R.W. Beeman, and S.J. Brown. 2008. Analysis of repetitive DNA distribution patterns in the Tribolium castaneum genome. Genome Biol. 9(R61), 14 pp.
PDF	Aikins, M.J., D.A. Schooley, K. Begum, M. Detheux, R.W. Beeman, and Y. Park. 2008. Vasopressin-like peptide and its receptor function in an indirect diuretic signaling pathway in the red flour beetle. Insect Biochem. Mol. Biol. 38: 740-748.
PDF	Zhu, Q., Y. Arakane, R.W. Beeman, K.J. Kramer, and S. Muthukrishnan. 2008. Functional specialization among insect chitinase family genes revealed by RNA interference. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 105: 6650-6655.
PDF	Tribolium Sequencing Consortium (includes R.W. Beeman, M.D. Lorenzen, B. Oppert, J. Lord, K. Kramer, Y. Arakane). 2008. The genome of the model beetle and pest Tribolium castaneum. Nature 452: 949-955.
PDF	Zhu, Q., Y. Arakane, K.J. Kramer, R.W. Beeman, and S. Muthukrishnan. 2008. Domain organization and phylogenetic analysis of the chitinase-like family of proteins in three species of insects. Insect Biochem. Mol. Biol. 38: 452-466.
PDF	Hogenkamp, D.G., Y. Arakane, K.J. Kramer, S. Muthukrishnan, and R.W. Beeman. 2008. Characterization and expression of the B-N-Acetylhexosaminidase gene family of Tribolium castaneum. Insect Biochem. Mol. Biol. 38: 478-489.
PDF	Dixit, R., Y. Arakane, C.A. Specht, C. Richard, K.J. Kramer, R.W. Beeman, and S. Muthukrishnan. 2008. Domain organization and phylogenetic analysis of proteins from the chitin deacetylase gene family of Tribolium castaneum and three other species of insects. Insect Biochem. Mol. Biol. 38: 440-451.
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