The genome of the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum, has been sequenced at 7-fold coverage using the whole-genome shotgun approach, generating 1.8 million end-sequences from fragments 3-6 kb in length. A preliminary assembly (Tcas_1.0) has been released by the Human Genome Sequencing Center, Baylor College of Medicine. Tribolium thus becomes the first beetle on the list of sequenced genomes. Version 2 of the assembly will incorporate end-sequences from fosmids and bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs). Improved assemblies will be aided by the availability of both a high-density recombination map, based largely on sequences from BAC ends and expressed sequence tags, and a physical map based on HindIII digests of ~17,000 BACs. The genome sequence of Tribolium will be particularly useful to researchers because of the availability of powerful tools for functional genomic analysis in this insect, including RNAi, transgenics, genetic stocks and maps, and the ease of genetic manipulations at the organismal level. The next stage of the genome project will begin in 2005, and will involve both automated and manual annotation using a variety of gene prediction tools. Currently, the Tribolium genome database, (BeetleBase, www.bioinformatics.ksu.edu/BeetleBase/), supports BLAST searches against all available Tribolium sequences. The status of the Tribolium genome project and future prospects for functional analysis of this genome will be discussed, with particular reference to the physiology of cuticle and chitin, synaptic reuptake symporters, and comparative genomics.