Overview of Stingless Bees in Brazil (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini)

Nogueira, David Silva

doi:10.12741/ebrasilis.v16.e1041

Cited by 9 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…This is relevant because the country houses over 40% (~ 250 spp.) of all known stingless bees worldwide [ 32 ]. Tetragonisca angustula ranges from Rio Grande do Sul in southern Brazil to as far north as Chiapas in México [ 33 ], occupying a myriad of environments—from large forest fragments to major urban centers [ 34 , 35 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The nuclear and mitochondrial genome assemblies of Tetragonisca angustula (Apidae: Meliponini), a tiny yet remarkable pollinator in the Neotropics

Ferrari,

Ricardo,

Dias

et al. 2024

BMC Genomics

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Background The field of bee genomics has considerably advanced in recent years, however, the most diverse group of honey producers on the planet, the stingless bees, are still largely neglected. In fact, only eleven of the ~ 600 described stingless bee species have been sequenced, and only three using a long-read (LR) sequencing technology. Here, we sequenced the nuclear and mitochondrial genomes of the most common, widespread and broadly reared stingless bee in Brazil and other neotropical countries—Tetragonisca angustula (popularly known in Brazil as jataí). Results A total of 48.01 Gb of DNA data were generated, including 2.31 Gb of Pacific Bioscience HiFi reads and 45.70 Gb of Illumina short reads (SRs). Our preferred assembly comprised 683 contigs encompassing 284.49 Mb, 62.84 Mb of which (22.09%) corresponded to 445,793 repetitive elements. N50, L50 and complete BUSCOs reached 1.02 Mb, 91 contigs and 97.1%, respectively. We predicted that the genome of T. angustula comprises 17,459 protein-coding genes and 4,108 non-coding RNAs. The mitogenome consisted of 17,410 bp, and all 37 genes were found to be on the positive strand, an unusual feature among bees. A phylogenomic analysis of 26 hymenopteran species revealed that six odorant receptor orthogroups of T. angustula were found to be experiencing rapid evolution, four of them undergoing significant contractions. Conclusions Here, we provided the first nuclear and mitochondrial genome assemblies for the ecologically and economically important T. angustula, the fourth stingless bee species to be sequenced with LR technology thus far. We demonstrated that even relatively small amounts of LR data in combination with sufficient SR data can yield high-quality genome assemblies for bees.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The nuclear and mitochondrial genome assemblies of Tetragonisca angustula (Apidae: Meliponini), a tiny yet remarkable pollinator in the Neotropics

Ferrari,

Ricardo,

Dias

et al. 2024

BMC Genomics

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show abstract

“…This is relevant because the country houses over 40% (~250 spp.) of all known SLB species worldwide [25]. Tetragonisca angustula ranges from Rio Grande do Sul in southern Brazil to as far north as Chiapas in México [26], occupying a myriad of environments-from large forest fragments to major urban centers [27,28].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The complete genome of Tetragonisca angustula (Apidae: Meliponini), the most commonly reared stingless bee in Brazil

Ferrari,

Ricardo,

Dias

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Background The field of bee genomics has been considerably advanced in recent years, however, the most diverse group of honey producers on the planet, the stingless bees (SLBs), are still largely neglected. In fact, only ten of the ~600 described SLB species have been sequenced, and only one using a long-read (LR) sequencing technology. Here, we sequenced the complete genome of the most common, widespread and broadly reared SLB species in Brazil—Tetragonisca angustula (popularly known as jataí). Results A total of 48.01 Gb of DNA data were generated, including 2.31 Gb of Pacific Bioscience LRs and 45.70 Gb of Illumina short reads (SRs). Our preferred assembly comprised 705 contigs encompassing 283.99 Mb, 65.94 Mb of which (23.22%) corresponded to 462,261 repetitive elements. N50, L50 and complete BUSCOs reached 1.01 Mb, 94 contigs and 97%, respectively. We predicted that the genome of T. angustula comprises 16,958 protein-coding genes and 1,866 non-coding RNAs. The mitogenome consisted of 17,410 bp, and all 37 genes were found to be on the positive strand, an unusual feature among bees. A phylogenomic analysis of 26 hymenopteran species revealed that six of the 64 orthogroups experiencing rapid evolution in T. angustula included odorant receptor genes, all but one undergoing considerable contractions. Conclusions Here, we provided the first genome assembly for the ecologically and economically important T. angustula, the second SLB species to be sequenced with LR technology thus far. We demonstrated that even relatively small amounts of LR data in combination with sufficient SR data can yield high-quality genome assemblies for bees.

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“…[5] Brazil is home to about 43 % of this diversity of stingless bees, with records of about 259 species of stingless bees distributed in 28 genera, of which about 40 % are endemic to Brazil, for a total of 103 species. [6] Stingless bees play an important role in maintaining the balance of natural ecosystems through the pollination process and are responsible for approximately 40-90 % of the reproduction of floral species. [3,7,8] In addition, Meliponines produce bioproducts such as honey, wax, propolis, and geopropolis, which are stored in separate pots strategically placed throughout the colony.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Floral Visitation, Phytochemical and Biological Activities of Bioproducts from Tetragonisca angustula (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Meliponini): A Review

Silva Macêdo,

de Sousa Silveira,

da Silva Sousa

et al. 2023

Chemistry & Biodiversity

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Tetragonisca angustula (Latreille, 1811) is an indigenous neotropical stingless bee, popularly known as “Jataí”, with a wide distribution in the Brazilian territory. T. angustula produces other derivatives such as propolis, geopropolis, fermented (saburá pollen), cerumen and resins, which are important in folk medicine. In this review, the objective was to gather research on the main plant species visited by T. angustula, as well as studies that verified the chemical composition and biological properties of T. angustula bioproducts. The bibliographic review was performed by searching the Scopus, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, and PubMed databases for publications from 2003 to February 2023. We found 78 studies that analyzed the interactions between T. angustula and floral species, with species from the botanical families Fabaceae, Asteraceae, Malvaceae, Bignoniaceae, Solanaceae, Myrtaceae and Lamiaceae being the most reported as the main food sources for this species. The presence of compounds belonging to the class of flavonoids, phenolic acids, terpenoids and alkaloids has been identified by studying the chemical composition of honey, propolis, geopropolis and fermented pollen (saburá) in 21 studies. The data collected in the literature emphasize that these T. angustula products have remarkable biological properties, especially their antibacterial and antioxidant activities.

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Overview of Stingless Bees in Brazil (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini)

Cited by 9 publications

References 25 publications

The nuclear and mitochondrial genome assemblies of Tetragonisca angustula (Apidae: Meliponini), a tiny yet remarkable pollinator in the Neotropics

The nuclear and mitochondrial genome assemblies of Tetragonisca angustula (Apidae: Meliponini), a tiny yet remarkable pollinator in the Neotropics

The complete genome of Tetragonisca angustula (Apidae: Meliponini), the most commonly reared stingless bee in Brazil

Floral Visitation, Phytochemical and Biological Activities of Bioproducts from Tetragonisca angustula (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Meliponini): A Review

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