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Letter

Genomic Analysis in the sting-2 Quantitative Trait Locus for Defensive Behavior in the Honey Bee, Apis mellifera

¹ Indiana Center for Insect Genomics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, 46556, USA, and Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA ² Department of Biological Sciences, Galvin Life Sciences Building, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA, and Purdue University, Department of Entomology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA ³ Department of Entomology, Purdue University, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA ⁴ Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA

We have sequenced an 81-kb genomic region from the honey bee, Apis mellifera, associated with a quantitative trait locus (QTL) sting-2 for aggressive behavior. This sequence represents the first extensive study of the honey-bee genome structure encompassing putative genes in a QTL for a behavioral trait. Expression of 13 putative genes, as well as two transcripts that were present in a honey-bee EST database, was confirmed through reverse transcription analysis of mRNA from the honey-bee head. Whereas most transcripts exhibited little or no variation between European and Africanized honey-bee alleles, one transcript demonstrated significant nonsynonymous substitutions, deletions, and insertions. All 13 putative genes lacked similarity to known invertebrate or vertebrate proteins or transcripts. This observation may be reflective of the processes that determine the genomic evolution of an insect with social behavior and/or haplo-diploidy and are an indication of the unique nature of the honey-bee genome. These results make this sequence an invaluable research tool for the ongoing honey-bee whole-genome sequencing effort.

⁵ These two authors contributed equally to this work.

⁶ Corresponding authors.
E-MAIL ghunt{at}purdue.edu; FAX (765) 494-0535.
E-MAIL collins.75{at}nd.edu; FAX (574) 631-3996.

[Supplemental material is available online at www.genome.org. The following individuals kindly provided reagents, samples, or unpublished information as indicated in the paper: G. Hunt and M. Chambers.]

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