Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou, 310021, China.
Institute of Apicultural Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100093, China.
Sci Data. 2021 Nov 25;8(1):302. doi: 10.1038/s41597-021-01091-7.
A high royal jelly-producing strain of honeybees (HRJHB) has been obtained by successive artificial selection of Italian honeybees (Apis mellifera ligustica) in China. The HRJHB can produce amounts of royal jelly that are dozens of times greater than their original counterparts, which has promoted China to be the largest producer of royal jelly in the world. In this study, we generated a chromosome-scale of the genome sequence for the HRJHB using PacBio long reads and Hi-C technique. The genome consists of 16 pseudo-chromosomes that contain 222 Mb of sequence, with a scaffold N50 of 13.6 Mb. BUSCO analysis yielded a completeness score of 99.3%. The genome has 12,288 predicted protein-coding genes and a rate of 8.11% of repetitive sequences. One chromosome inversion was identified between the HRJHB and the closely related Italian honeybees through whole-genome alignment analysis. The HRJHB's genome sequence will be an important resource for understanding the genetic basis of high levels of royal jelly production, which may also shed light on the evolution of domesticated insects.
中国通过对意大利蜜蜂（Apis mellifera ligustica）的连续人工选择，获得了一种高产蜂王浆的蜜蜂（HRJHB）。这种 HRJHB 可以生产出比其原始蜂种多出几十倍的蜂王浆，这使得中国成为世界上最大的蜂王浆生产国。在这项研究中，我们使用 PacBio 长读长和 Hi-C 技术为 HRJHB 生成了染色体级别的基因组序列。该基因组由 16 条假染色体组成，包含 222Mb 的序列，支架 N50 为 13.6Mb。BUSCO 分析得出的完整性评分为 99.3%。该基因组预测有 12,288 个蛋白编码基因，重复序列的比例为 8.11%。通过全基因组比对分析，在 HRJHB 和密切相关的意大利蜜蜂之间发现了一条染色体倒位。HRJHB 的基因组序列将成为研究高水平蜂王浆生产的遗传基础的重要资源，这也可能揭示了驯化昆虫的进化。
