Ecological adaptation of diverse honey bee (Apis mellifera) populations.
BACKGROUND
Honey bees are complex eusocial insects that provide a critical contribution to human agricultural food production. Their natural migration has selected for traits that increase fitness within geographical areas, but in parallel their domestication has selected for traits that enhance productivity and survival under local conditions. Elucidating the biochemical mechanisms of these local adaptive processes is a key goal of evolutionary biology. Proteomics provides tools unique among the major 'omics disciplines for identifying the mechanisms employed by an organism in adapting to environmental challenges.


RESULTS
Through proteome profiling of adult honey bee midgut from geographically dispersed, domesticated populations combined with multiple parallel statistical treatments, the data presented here suggest some of the major cellular processes involved in adapting to different climates. These findings provide insight into the molecular underpinnings that may confer an advantage to honey bee populations. Significantly, the major energy-producing pathways of the mitochondria, the organelle most closely involved in heat production, were consistently higher in bees that had adapted to colder climates. In opposition, up-regulation of protein metabolism capacity, from biosynthesis to degradation, had been selected for in bees from warmer climates.


CONCLUSIONS
Overall, our results present a proteomic interpretation of expression polymorphisms between honey bee ecotypes and provide insight into molecular aspects of local adaptation or selection with consequences for honey bee management and breeding. The implications of our findings extend beyond apiculture as they underscore the need to consider the interdependence of animal populations and their agro-ecological context.
Parker
Robert
R
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of British Columbia, Centre for High-Throughput Biology, Vancouver, Canada.
Melathopoulos
Andony P
AP
White
Rick
R
Pernal
Stephen F
SF
Guarna
M Marta
MM
Foster
Leonard J
LJ
D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees / Q000502:physiology*; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D004463:Ecology; D020543:Proteome
D020543:Proteome