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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Bee Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #365004
Research Project: Managing Honey Bees against Disease and Colony Stress

Location: Bee Research Laboratory

Title: Divergent evolutionary trajectories following speciation in two ectoparasitic honey bee mites

Author
item MAEVA, TECHER - Okinawa Institute Of Science And Technology
item RAHUL, RANE - Commonwealth Scientific And Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
item GRAUL, MIGUEL - Okinawa Institute Of Science And Technology
item ROBERTS, JOHN - Commonwealth Scientific And Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
item SULLIVAN, SHAWN - Washington State University
item LIACHKO, IVAN - Phase Genomics, Inc
item Childers, Anna
item Evans, Jay
item MIKHEYEV, ALEXANDER - Okinawa Institute Of Science And Technology

Submitted to: Communications Biology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/10/2019
Publication Date: 10/1/2019
Citation: Maeva, T., Rahul, R.V., Graul, M.L., Roberts, J.M., Sullivan, S.T., Liachko, I., Childers, A.K., Evans, J.D., Mikheyev, A.S. 2019. Divergent evolutionary trajectories following speciation in two ectoparasitic honey bee mites. Communications Biology. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-019-0606-0.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-019-0606-0

Interpretive Summary: Varroa mites are the single most important parasite for honey bees worldwide, causing millions of dollars in damage to the beekeeping and plant pollination communities. This genomic resource will be used to understand how these mites parasitize the western honey bee, how they hurt bee hosts, and the distinctions between mites found on different honey bee species. The resulting insights for honey bee breeding and mite control will lead to more sustainable beekeeping and reduce devastating colony losses.

Technical Abstract: Multispecies host-parasite evolution is common, but how parasites evolve after speciating remains poorly understood. On one hand, their shared evolutionary history and physiology may propel them along similar evolutionary trajectories. Alternatively, they may pursue different strategies to reduce competition with each 35 other. Here, we test these scenarios using the economically important association between honey bees and ectoparasitic mites by sequencing the genomes of the sister species Varroa destructor and Varroa jacobsoni. We also compare them to another honey bee mite (Tropilaelaps mercedesae). We find different sets of genes and gene ontology terms under selection in each of the lineages, indicating distinct 40 selective regimes operating on each of the parasites. Divergent strategies pursued by the parasites may make it harder for the host species to develop tolerance to all of them at the same time. Based on our findings, we suggest that species-specific strategies may be needed to combat evolving parasite communities.