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Abstract Background Maternal RNAs play a critical role in early development. Variation in the diversity and levels of maternally derived gene transcripts may be central to the origin of phenotypic novelty -- a longstanding problem in evolution and development. By studying maternal transcriptomes within and between divergent species, a better understanding of the evolutionary forces acting on maternal RNA allocation is possible. Results We present the first maternal transcriptome of the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum. Using a tiled whole-genome microarray, we found that 58.2% of T. castaneum genes are maternally loaded into eggs. Comparison of known Drosophila melanogaster maternal genes to our results showed widespread conservation of maternal expression with T. castaneum. Additionally, we found that many genes previously reported as having sex or tissue specific expression in T. castaneum were also maternally loaded. Identification of such pleiotropy is vital for proper modeling and testing of evolutionary theory using empirical data. The microarray design also allowed the detection of 2315 and 4060 novel transcriptionally active regions greater in length than 100 bp in unfertilized and fertilized T. castaneum eggs, respectively. These transcriptionally active regions represent novel exons of potentially unknown genes for future study. Conclusions Our results lay a foundation for utilizing T. castaneum as a model for understanding the role of maternal genes in evolution.

As the importance of knowledge has risen within organizations, the proper development of knowledge management systems has become a major concern for managers to improve organizational performance. While a number of technology-based tools are available to improve knowledge management performance, it remains unclear if and when these tools are best utilized. In the review of current studies, the importance of human-based knowledge management practices is established as a prerequisite for technology-based knowledge management tool implementation. Thus managers are provided with guidance on the development of their organization's knowledge management system. Keywords: Knowledge management systems, organization performance, technology-based tools, human-based knowledge management practices, INTRODUCTION As the creation of ideas and utilization of information has become increasingly more important to core business operations across industries, the processes by which those ideas and information are [...]