Shifts in bee diet breadths are associated with gene gains and losses and positive selection across olfactory receptors.

ABSTRACT: Bees are palynivorous insects that vary widely in the number of plant families from which they collect pollen. Their evolutionary history has been marked by multiple transitions in diet breadth between specialists that only visit specific plant genera (narrow diet breadth) and generalists that visit multiple large plant families (broad diet breadth). Understanding the evolution of sensory systems associated with changes in the detection, discrimination, and gustation of different pollen in bees can shed light on the underlying genetic mechanisms associated with transitions between narrow and broad diet breadths. We conducted a comparative study of three families of insect olfactory receptor genes (odorant receptors (ORs), gustatory receptors (GRs), and ionotropic receptors (IRs)) linked to

SUBMITTER: Singh A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12341933 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature