The gut microbiome defines social group membership in honey bee colonies.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Vernier CL
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7556842 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
The gut microbiome defines social group membership in honey bee colonies.
Vernier Cassondra L CL Chin Iris M IM Adu-Oppong Boahemaa B Krupp Joshua J JJ Levine Joel J Dantas Gautam G Ben-Shahar Yehuda Y
Science advances 20201014 42
In the honey bee, genetically related colony members innately develop colony-specific cuticular hydrocarbon profiles, which serve as pheromonal nestmate recognition cues. Yet, despite high intracolony relatedness, the innate development of colony-specific chemical signatures by individual colony members is largely determined by the colony environment, rather than solely relying on genetic variants shared by nestmates. Therefore, it is puzzling how a nongenic factor could drive the innate develop ...[more]
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