Tribolium castaneum Transcriptome or Gene expression

While the terminal system in the short-germ beetle Tribolium provides anterior and posterior polarity cues, the majority of Torso target genes remain to be identified. To gain additional insights into the terminal RTK-signalling, we analyzed the functions of HMG-box protein Capicua in early Tribolium development. We found Tc-cic to act as an antagonist of terminal signalling also in this beetle. To uncover a comprehensive set of Torso-target genes, we compared terminal-system loss-of function (i.e. Tc-tsl RNAi) vs. gain-of-function (i.e. Tc-cic RNAi) transcriptomes to the wildtype situation by Next Generation Sequencing.