Abstract
Recent evidence suggests a rise in the importation of non-native honey bee subspecies into Ireland with an associated potential rise in hybridisation followed by introgression. The purity of the Apis mellifera mellifera (A. m. mellifera) population in Ireland, given its decline elsewhere in Europe, makes the Irish population a very important biodiversity, and food security, resource that will also play an important role in conserving the genetic diversity of A. m. mellifera. To investigate if the Irish A. m. mellifera population can be distinguished from other European populations and to assess the introgression levels within Irish honey bees, we sampled 30 worker bees from each of 153 honey bee colonies for a pool-sequencing analysis. The assembled genomic data, also including pool sequencing data from other European studies, allowed us to confirm that pure Irish A. m. mellifera colonies are distinct from other A. m. mellifera populations and that introgression has become a serious issue.
Subjects
- Ecology
- Evolution
- Genetics
- Molecular biology
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank all who submitted samples throughout the course of this study including the members of the public that volunteer as ‘custodians’ of wild honey bee nests. The three UK colonies were provided by Joe Ibbertson from Boughton Estate and Filipe Salbany from Blenheim Palace, while the five A.m.carnica from the Bee Institute Kirchhain in Germany were provided by Prof. Ralph Büchler. We are also grateful for the support of the Bioinformatics group at the University of Galway including the use of their cluster, to the technical staff and facilities in Zoology at the University of Galway.
Funding
This publication has emanated from research conducted with the financial support of Science Foundation Ireland under grant numbers 18/CRT/6214 and 20/FFP-P/8679. Additional funding was received from the Eva Crane Trust.
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Ethical approval was not required for this research. However live honeybees were treated as humanely as possible, and with respect, to minimise stress during collection.
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Smith, S., Valentine, A., Verspuij, M. et al. Whole-genome sequencing data confirms the uniqueness of Ireland’s native honey bee.
Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-64520-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-64520-w
Keywords
Apis mellifera mellifera
- Pool-sequencing
- Introgressive hybridisation
- High-resolution population networkA
- Conservation
Source: Ecology - nature.com
