Genus-Wide Characterization of Bumblebee Genomes Provides Insights into Their Evolution and Variation in Ecological and Behavioral Traits.

ABSTRACT: Bumblebees are a diverse group of globally important pollinators in natural ecosystems and for agricultural food production. With both eusocial and solitary life-cycle phases, and some social parasite species, they are especially interesting models to understand social evolution, behavior, and ecology. Reports of many species in decline point to pathogen transmission, habitat loss, pesticide usage, and global climate change, as interconnected causes. These threats to bumblebee diversity make our reliance on a handful of well-studied species for agricultural pollination particularly precarious. To broadly sample bumblebee genomic and phenotypic diversity, we de novo sequenced and assembled the genomes of 17 species, representing all 15 subgenera, producing the first genus-wide quantificatio

SUBMITTER: Sun C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7826183 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature