Whole Genome Sequencing and Assembly of the Asian Honey Bee Apis dorsata

Abstract

The Asian honey bee (Apis dorsata) is distinct from its more widely distributed cousin A. mellifera by a few key characteristics. Most prominently, A. dorsata, nest in the open by forming a colony clustered around the honeycomb, while A. mellifera nest in concealed cavities.Additionally, the worker and reproductive castes are all of the same size in A. dorsata. In order to investigate these differences, we performed whole genome sequencing of A. dorsata using a hybrid Oxford Nanopore and Illumina approach. The 223MB genome has an N50 of 35kb with the largest scaffold of 302kb. We have found that there are many genes in the dorsata genome that are distinct from other hymenoptera and also large amounts of transposable elements, and we suggest some candidate genes for A. dorsata's exceptional level of defensive aggression.

Landscapes of transposable elements in Apis species by meta-analysis

“…The genus Apis mainly consists of four species, and the following whole genome data are currently available (three Apis species and three Apis cerana subspecies): A. mellifera (Am) (Wallberg et al, 2019), A. cerana japonica (Ack) (Yokoi et al, 2018), A. cerana cerana korea strain (Ack) (Park et al, 2015), A. cerana cerana china strain (Acc) (Diao et al, 2018), A. dorsata (Ad) (Oppenheim et al, 2020), and A. florea (Af) (Table 1). Apis genomes contain small numbers of TE, which mainly consist of class II TE, particularly MLEs (Weinstock et al, 2006; Yokoi et al, 2018).…”