Here we report the genome sequence of the honeybee Apis mellifera, a key model for social behaviour and essential to global ecology through pollination. Compared with other sequenced insect genomes, the A. mellifera genome has high A+T and CpG contents, lacks major transposon families, evolves more slowly, and is more similar to vertebrates for circadian rhythm, RNA interference and DNA methylation genes, among others. Furthermore, A. mellifera has fewer genes for innate immunity, detoxification enzymes, cuticle-forming proteins and gustatory receptors, more genes for odorant receptors, and novel genes for nectar and pollen utilization, consistent with its ecology and social organization. Compared to Drosophila, genes in early developmental pathways differ in Apis, whereas similarities exist for functions that differ markedly, such as sex determination, brain function and behaviour. Population genetics suggests a novel African origin for the species A. mellifera and insights into whether Africanized bees spread throughout the New World via hybridization or displacement.

Only a small proportion of the mouse genome is transcribed into mature messenger RNA transcripts. There is an international collaborative effort to identify all full-length mRNA transcripts from the mouse, and to ensure that each is represented in a physical collection of clones. Here we report the manual annotation of 60,770 full-length mouse complementary DNA sequences. These are clustered into 33,409 'transcriptional units', contributing 90.1% of a newly established mouse transcriptome database. Of these transcriptional units, 4,258 are new protein-coding and 11,665 are new non-coding messages, indicating that non-coding RNA is a major component of the transcriptome. 41% of all transcriptional units showed evidence of alternative splicing. In protein-coding transcripts, 79% of splice variations altered the protein product. Whole-transcriptome analyses resulted in the identification of 2,431 sense-antisense pairs. The present work, completely supported by physical clones, provides the most comprehensive survey of a mammalian transcriptome so far, and is a valuable resource for functional genomics.

Aphids possess bacteriocytes, cells specifically differentiated to harbor obligatory mutualistic bacteria of the genus Buchnera, which have lost many genes that are essential for common bacterial functions. To understand the host's role in maintaining the symbiotic relationship, bacteriocytes were isolated from the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum, and the host transcriptome was investigated by using EST analysis and real-time quantitative RT-PCR. A number of genes were highly expressed specifically in the bacteriocyte, including (i) genes for amino acid metabolism, including those for biosynthesis of amino acids that Buchnera cannot produce, and those for utilization of amino acids that Buchnera can synthesize; (ii) genes related to transport, including genes for mitochondrial transporters and a gene encoding Rab, a G protein that regulates vesicular transport; and (iii) genes for putative lysozymes that degrade bacterial cell walls. Significant up-regulation of i clearly indicated that the bacteriocyte is involved in the exchange of amino acids between the host aphid and Buchnera, the key metabolic process in the symbiotic system. Conspicuously high expression of ii and iii shed light on previously unknown aspects of the host-Buchnera interactions in the symbiotic system.EST ͉ quantitative RT-PCR