Honeybee Completes Full Genome Sequencing

Though their heads are several times smaller than ours, bees have mysterious social behaviors. Recently, the "Honeybee Genome Sequencing Consortium" published the complete genome sequence of the bee Apis mellifera. Bees have an important impact on the global ecology through pollination and are also a key model for studying social behavior. This genome contains fewer genes responsible for innate immunity, epidermal formation, and taste receptors than other insects, but it has more olfactory receptors than other insects and contains novel genes used for nectar and pollen utilization. Population genetics knowledge can help us understand whether Africanized bees have spread outward from the "New World" through hybridization or migration. In an accompanying News and Views article, E. O. Wilson analyzes how profound biological changes that "elevate bees to a higher state of social organization" are reflected in the newly sequenced genome. On the Nature website, the organization also produced a video about the research situation related to this topic to share with everyone.