Indexed in

License and use

Citations

Cited 203 times in

Cited 288 times in

Cited 173 times in

Altmetrics

Grant support

The sequencing, annotation, and assembly of the B. impatiens genome was supported by National Institutes of Health (NIH) Pioneer Award DP1 OD006416 (GER). The B. terrestris genome sequencing, assembly and project coordination was supported by NIH grant U54 HG003273 (RAG). Contributions from members of the CGE lab were supported by Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive grant no. 2010-65106-21301 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. GVA was supported by the Research Council of Norway (NFR) and the PEW Charitable Trust. MB was supported by a student fellowship from the University of East Anglia, UK. GB was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (ISF). DHC was supported by a studentship funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, UK, and the University of East Anglia. JDL was supported by the University of Alabama College of Arts and Sciences. ZPLS was supported by a Sao Paulo Research Foundation grant (FAPESP number 11/03171-5). RMW was supported by Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship PIOF-GA-2011-303312 and by Swiss National Science Foundation awards 31003A-125350 and 31003A-143936 to EMZ. BMS was supported by a New Faculty Initiative Grant (NFIG) from Illinois State University College of Arts and Sciences. MHasselmann received financial support from the DFG. The work of FC, RG, and MM was supported by the Instituto Nacional de Bioinformatica (INB) from ISCIII in Spain. We thank Justin Reese and Christopher Childers for setting up genome annotation tools at Hymenoptera Genome Database.

Analysis of institutional authors

Share

The genomes of two key bumblebee species with primitive eusocial organization

Publicated to:Genome Biology. 16 76- - 2015-04-24 16(), DOI: 10.1186/s13059-015-0623-3

Authors: Sadd, BM; Barribeau, SM; Bloch, G; de Graaf, DC; Dearden, P; Elsik, CG; Gadau, J; Grimmelikhuijzen, CJP; Hasselmann, M; Lozier, JD; Robertson, HM; Smagghe, G; Stolle, E; Van Vaerenbergh, M; Waterhouse, RM; Bornberg-Bauer, E; Klasberg, S; Bennett, AK; Câamara, F; Guigó, R; Hoff, K; Mariotti, M; Munoz-Torres, M; Murphy, T; Santesmasses, D; Amdam, GV; Beckers, M; Beye, M; Biewer, M; Bitondi, MMG; Blaxter, ML; Bourke, AFG; Brown, MJF; Buechel, SD; Cameron, R; Cappelle, K; Carolan, JC; Christiaens, O; Ciborowski, KL; Clarke, DF; Colgan, TJ; Collins, DH; Cridge, AG; Dalmay, T; Dreier, S; du Plessis, L; Duncan, E; Erler, S; Evans, J; Falcon, T; Flores, K; Freitas, FCP; Fuchikawa, T; Gempe, T; Hartfelder, K; Hauser, F; Helbing, S; Humann, FC; Irvine, F; Jermiin, LS; Johnson, CE; Johnson, RM; Jones, AK; Kadowaki, T; Kidner, JH; Koch, V; Köhler, A; Kraus, FB; Lattorff, HMG; Leask, M; Lockett, GA; Mallon, EB; Antonio, DSM; Marxer, M; Meeus, I; Moritz, RFA; Nair, A; Näpflin, K; Nissen, I; Niu, J; Nunes, FMF; Oakeshott, JG; Osborne, A; Otte, M; Pinheiro, DG; Rossié, N; Rueppell, O; Santos, CG; Schmid-Hempel, R; Schmitt, BD; Schulte, C; Simoes, ZLP; Soares, MPM; Swevers, L; Winnebeck, EC; Wolschin, F; Yu, N; Zdobnov, EM; Aqrawi, PK; Blankenburg, KP; Coyle, M; Francisco, L; Hernandez, AG; Holder, M; Hudson, ME; Jackson, L; Jayaseelan, J; Joshi, V; Kovar, C; Lee, SL; Mata, R; Mathew, T; Newsham, IF; Ngo, R; Okwuonu, G; Pham, C; Pu, LL; Saada, N; Santibanez, J; Simmons, D; Thornton, R; Venkat, A; Walden, KKO; Wu, YQ; Debyser, G; Devreese, B; Asher, C; Blommaert, J; Chipman, AD; Chittka, L; Fouks, B; Liu, J; O'Neill, MP; Sumner, S; Puiu, D; Qu, J; Salzberg, SL; Scherer, SE; Muzny, DM; Richards, S; Robinson, GE; Gibbs, RA; Schmid-Hempel, P; Worley, KC

Affiliations

Abstract

The shift from solitary to social behavior is one of the major evolutionary transitions. Primitively eusocial bumblebees are uniquely placed to illuminate the evolution of highly eusocial insect societies. Bumblebees are also invaluable natural and agricultural pollinators, and there is widespread concern over recent population declines in some species. High-quality genomic data will inform key aspects of bumblebee biology, including susceptibility to implicated population viability threats.We report the high quality draft genome sequences of Bombus terrestris and Bombus impatiens, two ecologically dominant bumblebees and widely utilized study species. Comparing these new genomes to those of the highly eusocial honeybee Apis mellifera and other Hymenoptera, we identify deeply conserved similarities, as well as novelties key to the biology of these organisms. Some honeybee genome features thought to underpin advanced eusociality are also present in bumblebees, indicating an earlier evolution in the bee lineage. Xenobiotic detoxification and immune genes are similarly depauperate in bumblebees and honeybees, and multiple categories of genes linked to social organization, including development and behavior, show high conservation. Key differences identified include a bias in bumblebee chemoreception towards gustation from olfaction, and striking differences in microRNAs, potentially responsible for gene regulation underlying social and other traits.These two bumblebee genomes provide a foundation for post-genomic research on these key pollinators and insect societies. Overall, gene repertoires suggest that the route to advanced eusociality in bees was mediated by many small changes in many genes and processes, and not by notable expansion or depauperation.

Keywords