Editor's Summary
26 October 2006
Honeybee Genome
The complete genome sequence of the honeybee Apis mellifera is published this week by the Honeybee Genome Sequencing Consortium. The insect is essential to global ecology through pollination, and is a key model for social behaviour. The genome contains fewer genes for innate immunity, cuticle-forming proteins and gustatory receptors than do other insects. But it has more for odorant receptors, and novel genes for nectar and pollen utilization. Population genetics provide insights into whether Africanized bees spread through the New World via hybridization or displacement. In an accompanying News & Views piece, E. O. Wilson considers how the profound biological changes that "lofted the honeybee to an advanced state of social organization" are reflected in the genome. On the cover, a honeybee on a trout lily (Carrol W. Perkins/photolibrary.com).
Editorial: Plan bee
Another day, another genome.
doi:10.1038/443884a
News: From hive minds to humans
Honeybee genome offers insight into social behaviour.
Erika Check
doi:10.1038/443893a
News and Views: Genomics: How to make a social insect
The profound biological changes that lofted the honeybee to an advanced state of social organization are reflected in its newly sequenced genome. The species can now be studied all the way from molecule to colony.
Edward O. Wilson
doi:10.1038/443919a