The Complex Demographic History and Evolutionary Origin of the Western Honey Bee, Apis Mellifera.

ABSTRACT: The western honey bee, Apis mellifera, provides critical pollination services to agricultural crops worldwide. However, despite substantial interest and prior investigation, the early evolution and subsequent diversification of this important pollinator remain uncertain. The primary hypotheses place the origin of A. mellifera in either Asia or Africa, with subsequent radiations proceeding from one of these regions. Here, we use two publicly available whole-genome data sets plus newly sequenced genomes and apply multiple population genetic analysis methods to investigate the patterns of ancestry and admixture in native honey bee populations from Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. The combination of these data sets is critical to the analyses, as each contributes samples from geographic lo

SUBMITTER: Cridland JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5381634 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature