Biologists identify the "clean" genes of honeybees known to improve their survival

Some worker bees detect and remove dead and sick larvae and pupae from their colonies. This hygienic behavior, which has a strong genetic component, is known to improve the colony's chances of survival. Researchers have targeted the "clean" genes that influence this behavior to understand the evolution of this unique trait.

The discovery, published today in the journal Genome biology and evolution, could lead to a new technique to be used in selective breeding programs around the world to improve the health of honey bees.

"Social immunity is a very important trait that beekeepers are trying to select in order to create healthier colonies," said Professor Amro Zayed, an expert in bee genomics at the Faculty's Department of Biology. Sciences. "Instead of spending a lot of time on the ground measuring colony hygiene behavior, we can now try to breed bees with these genetic mutations that predict hygiene behavior."

According to Statistics Canada, pollination by honey bees represents between $ 3.15 and $ 4.39 billion a year in the Canadian economy, including some of the most lucrative crops in Canada, such as apples, blueberries and apples. canola. In Canada and around the world, beekeepers have experienced higher-than-normal colony losses. Last winter, Canadian beekeepers lost up to 33% of their colonies.

"This study opens the door to the use of genomics to create healthier, disease-resistant colonies with higher social immunity," Zayed said. "This is of paramount importance to the large community of geneticists who wish to understand the genetics of this new trait."

Zayed has been working on the study with 13 bee biologists from York University, the University of British Columbia, the University of Manitoba, and the University of Manitoba. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

In the study, biologists sequenced the genomes of three populations of honeybees; two of them stood up to express a very hygienic behavior and a third population with a typical hygiene. Brock Harpur, a former doctoral student of Zayed, currently an assistant professor in the department of entomology at Purdue University, examined the genomes of bees from each of these three populations and searched for different areas between bees unhealthy and hygienic. Harpur has identified at least 73 genes that can control this hygienic feature.

"Now that we have identified these candidate genes, we can look for the mechanisms of hygienic behavior and start developing tools for beekeepers to create healthier colonies," said Harpur.

Biologists plan to pilot a marker-assisted breeding program for hygienic behavior, in which bees are selected for selection based solely on their genetic information.

"We think it's possible to create disease-resistant colonies with a simple genetic test," Zayed said.

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More information:
Brock A Harpur et al, Integrative genomics reveals the genetics and evolution of the social immune system of the honey bee, Genome biology and evolution (2019). DOI: 10.1093 / gbe / evz018