The complete mitochondrial DNA sequence of endemic honeybee (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Apidae) inhabiting Mount Kinabalu in Sabah Province, Borneo Island.

The cavity-nesting honeybee inhabits only the highlands of Mount Kinabalu of Sabah, Borneo Island. The mitochondrial genome is a circular molecule of approximately 1.6 kb that includes 13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNA genes, two rRNA genes, and one AT-rich control region.

The complete mitochondrial genome of the cavity-nesting honeybee, (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Apidae) from Borneo.

The complete mitochondrial genome of the cavity-nesting honeybee from Sabah on Borneo Island was analyzed using next-generation sequencing. The mitochondrial genome of was a circular molecule of 15,884 bp and was similar to that of the other cavity-nesting honeybee species. The average AT content in the mitochondrial genome was 84.

A New Metazoan Recombination Rate Record and Consistently High Recombination Rates in the Honey Bee Genus Apis Accompanied by Frequent Inversions but Not Translocations.

Western honey bees (Apis mellifera) far exceed the commonly observed 1–2 meiotic recombination events per chromosome and exhibit the highest Metazoan recombination rate (20 cM/Mb) described thus far. However, the reasons for this exceptional rate of recombination are not sufficiently understood. In a comparative study, we report on the newly constructed genomic linkage maps of Apis florea and Apis dorsata that represent the two honey bee lineages without recombination rate estimates so far.

The complete mitochondrial genome of the cavity-nesting honeybee, (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Apidae).

In this study, we analyzed the complete mitochondrial genome of the cavity-nesting honeybee, . The mitochondrial genome of was observed to be a circular molecule of 15,278 bp and was similar to that of the other cavity-nesting honeybee species. The average AT content in the mitochondrial genome was 84%.

Cross-species correlation between queen mating numbers and worker ovary sizes suggests kin conflict may influence ovary size evolution in honeybees.

During social evolution, the ovary size of reproductively specialized honey bee queens has dramatically increased while their workers have evolved much smaller ovaries. However, worker division of labor and reproductive competition under queenless conditions are influenced by worker ovary size. Little comparative information on ovary size exists in the different honey bee species.

A simple and distinctive microbiota associated with honey bees and bumble bees.

Specialized relationships with bacteria often allow animals to exploit a new diet by providing a novel set of metabolic capabilities. Bees are a monophyletic group of Hymenoptera that transitioned to a completely herbivorous diet from the carnivorous diet of their wasp ancestors. Recent culture-independent studies suggest that a set of distinctive bacterial species inhabits the gut of the honey bee, Apis mellifera.

Rapid evolution of immune proteins in social insects.

The existence of behavioral traits connected to defense against pathogens manifests the importance of pathogens in the evolution of social insects. However, very little is known about how pathogen pressure has affected the molecular evolution of genes involved in their innate immune system. We have studied the sequence evolution of several immune genes in ants and honeybees.

Evidence for convergent nucleotide evolution and high allelic turnover rates at the complementary sex determiner gene of Western and Asian honeybees.

Our understanding of the impact of recombination, mutation, genetic drift, and selection on the evolution of a single gene is still limited. Here we investigate the impact of all these evolutionary forces at the complementary sex determiner (csd) gene that evolves under a balancing mode of selection. Females are heterozygous at the csd gene and males are hemizygous; diploid males are lethal and occur when csd is homozygous.