Abstract
The honeybee is vital for maintaining levels of biodiversity and agricultural production through its role in plant pollination. However, it is threatened by several factors, including pathogens, biological invasions, climate change and pollution. Honeybees, and the plants that rely on them, are in decline, incurring major ecological and economic costs. Honeybees are grouped into a number of subspecies, which are estimated to have diverged and spread across Africa and Eurasia around one million years ago. Natural selection resulted in each of these subspecies becoming adapted to its local environment. More recently, the management of colonies by humans has resulted in artificial selection for desirable traits. Our goal is to uncover the molecular basis of these traits, such as cold adaptation and gentleness. To achieve this, we will survey genetic variation across the entire genome in populations drawn from several honeybee subspecies using next-generation sequencing technology. We will then scan these fine-scale patterns of genetic variation for the characteristic footprints of "selective sweeps." Knowledge of the genetic variation underlying adaptive traits could be crucial in maintaining them in the face of modern threats to honeybees. The data will also enable us to quantify the role of positive selection in shaping genetic variation. Finally, this study should identify more than one million SNPs, which will be valuable for studying honeybee ecology and evolution.
Sweden