Dataset Information

A variant reference data set for the Africanized honeybee, Apis mellifera.

ABSTRACT: The Africanized honeybee (AHB) is a population of Apis mellifera found in the Americas. AHBs originated in 1956 in Rio Clara, Brazil where imported African A. m. scutellata escaped and hybridized with local populations of European A. mellifera. Africanized populations can now be found from Northern Argentina to the Southern United States. AHBs-often referred to as 'Killer Bees'- are a major concern to the beekeeping industry as well as a model for the evolutionary genetics of colony defence. We performed high coverage pooled-resequencing of 360 diploid workers from 30 Brazilian AHB colonies using Illumina Hi-Seq (150?bp PE). This yielded a high density SNP data set with an average read depth at each site of 20.25 reads. With 3,606,720 SNPs and 155,336 SNPs within 11,365 genes, this data set is the largest genomic resource available for AHBs and will enable high-resolution studies of the population dynamics, evolution, and genetics of this successful biological invader, in addition to facilitating the development of SNP-based tools for identifying AHBs.

SUBMITTER: Kadri SM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5100683 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

A variant reference data set for the Africanized honeybee, Apis mellifera.

Kadri Samir M SM Harpur Brock A BA Orsi Ricardo O RO Zayed Amro A

Scientific data 20161108

The Africanized honeybee (AHB) is a population of Apis mellifera found in the Americas. AHBs originated in 1956 in Rio Clara, Brazil where imported African A. m. scutellata escaped and hybridized with local populations of European A. mellifera. Africanized populations can now be found from Northern Argentina to the Southern United States. AHBs-often referred to as 'Killer Bees'- are a major concern to the beekeeping industry as well as a model for the evolutionary genetics of colony defence. We ...[more]

PMID: 27824336

Similar Datasets

Project description:Various subspecies of Apis mellifera L. were introduced to Central America since colonization 500 years ago. Hybridization increased with the entrance of the Africanized bee in Nicaragua in 1984. Rustic beekeeping activities and numerous feral swarms define the genetic pattern, reflected in phenotypic heterogeneity and remarkable differences in the behaviour of the bee colonies, especially the nest defence. Due to these facts, the question emerge about the degree of Africanization of honeybee colonies in Nicaragua. In this study, we identified Africanized honeybee colonies based on the single character "mean forewing length" and we corroborated our results by determining mitotypes using mtDNA analysis. Morphometric and genetic approaches were realized in three different geographical zones of Nicaragua and related to beehive characteristics and management. Worker bee samples were taken from the inside of 146 hives from 26 apiaries. Abdominal colour as phenotypic character was the first examination, followed by measurement of 1460 right forewings to determine corresponding probability of Africanization. More than 60% of the beehives showed phenotypic heterogeneity and mean forewing length of 8.74 mm (SD 0.16 mm) indicated a high degree of Africanization. Those results provided a selection of 96 worker bees to perform PCR of two worker bees per hive. For mitochondrial DNA analysis 14 samples from sentinel apiaries were added. Three from 61 beehives presented bees with different mtDNA. Throughout, three mitotypes of the African (A) lineage were detected; one mitotype is still unidentified. Mitotype A1 A. mellifera iberiensis was represented by 88 bees and mitotype A4 A. mellifera scutellata by 21 bees. Phylogenetic analysis confirmed the PCR findings. No associations were found between mitotypes, forewing length, beehive characteristics and management. A high degree of Africanization in A. mellifera colonies represented by two predominating mitotypes from the A lineage, prevail in Neotropical Nicaragua, with mitotype A4 predominating at higher altitudes.

Dataset Information

A variant reference data set for the Africanized honeybee, Apis mellifera.

Publications

A variant reference data set for the Africanized honeybee, Apis mellifera.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets