IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v8y2017i1d10.1038_s41467-017-01800-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A soft selective sweep during rapid evolution of gentle behaviour in an Africanized honeybee

Author

Listed:
  • Arian Avalos

    (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

  • Hailin Pan

    (Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
    BGI-Shenzhen
    Department of Biology, Universitetsparken 15, University of Copenhagen)

  • Cai Li

    (BGI-Shenzhen)

  • Jenny P. Acevedo-Gonzalez

    (Universidad de Puerto Rico)

  • Gloria Rendon

    (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
    Carver Biotechnology Center, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

  • Christopher J. Fields

    (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
    Carver Biotechnology Center, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

  • Patrick J. Brown

    (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

  • Tugrul Giray

    (Universidad de Puerto Rico)

  • Gene E. Robinson

    (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

  • Matthew E. Hudson

    (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
    Carver Biotechnology Center, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

  • Guojie Zhang

    (Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
    BGI-Shenzhen
    Department of Biology, Universitetsparken 15, University of Copenhagen)

Abstract

Highly aggressive Africanized honeybees (AHB) invaded Puerto Rico (PR) in 1994, displacing gentle European honeybees (EHB) in many locations. Gentle AHB (gAHB), unknown anywhere else in the world, subsequently evolved on the island within a few generations. Here we sequence whole genomes from gAHB and EHB populations, as well as a North American AHB population, a likely source of the founder AHB on PR. We show that gAHB retains high levels of genetic diversity after evolution of gentle behaviour, despite selection on standing variation. We observe multiple genomic loci with significant signatures of selection. Rapid evolution during colonization of novel habitats can generate major changes to characteristics such as morphological or colouration traits, usually controlled by one or more major genetic loci. Here we describe a soft selective sweep, acting at multiple loci across the genome, that occurred during, and may have mediated, the rapid evolution of a behavioural trait.

Suggested Citation

  • Arian Avalos & Hailin Pan & Cai Li & Jenny P. Acevedo-Gonzalez & Gloria Rendon & Christopher J. Fields & Patrick J. Brown & Tugrul Giray & Gene E. Robinson & Matthew E. Hudson & Guojie Zhang, 2017. "A soft selective sweep during rapid evolution of gentle behaviour in an Africanized honeybee," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 1-9, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:8:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-017-01800-0
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-01800-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-01800-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-017-01800-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:8:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-017-01800-0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.