Bees


Bumble Bee

Bumble bee
Bumble bee
Image source: Wikimedia Commons

The BCM-HGSC sequenced the bumble bee (Bombus terrestris). The bumble bee is at an evolutionary distance to the honey bee well suited for comparative analysis (closer than the distance between rodents and humans and about the same as the distance between dogs and cats).

Bumble bees are a social insect, like honey bees, and have been used as a model species to study social behavior, population and community ecology, parasitism, immunology, life history, physiology, reproduction, sex determination and pollination ecology.

Sequencing of the bumble bee is funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NHGRI).

 

Dwarf Honey Bee

Dwarf honey bee
Dwarf honey bee
Image source: Wikimedia Commons

The BCM-HGSC sequenced the dwarf honey bee (Apis florea). This primitively social bee has simple hives and a simplified waggle dance.

This sequencing along with the bumble bee is part of the Honey bee genome refinement project and funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI).

 

 

 

Honey Bee

Honey Bee
Honey bee
Image source: Wikimedia Commons

The BCM-HGSC sequenced the honey bee  (Apis mellifera). The honey bee is important in the agricultural community as a producer of honey and as a facilitator of pollination. It is a model organism for studying the following human health issues: immunity, allergic reaction, antibiotic resistance, development, mental health, longevity and diseases of the X chromosome. In addition, biologists are interested in the honey bee's social organization and behavioral traits.

Sequencing of the honey bee is jointly funded by National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA).