The recent release of the honey bee genome has resulted in some interesting information regarding bees. While the genome is contained on 16 chromosomes and 265 million nucleotides, perhaps one of the most surprising findings is that the honey bee is an out of Africa species. All bees can be traced back to Africa and moved into Europe and Asia from there.  Additionally, honey bees are not native to North America. Apparently, the bees were brought over to North America in four distinct groups. In the 1600’s the first bees were brought over from Europe and used commercially. Additional bees were introduced from Italy in the mid 1800’s, and later imports came from Spain and Portugal. The final introduction of bees to North America was in the 1990’s.

 

Genomic studies demonstrate that the North American bees are a mix of the four major groups from Europe. With the introduction of the subspecies from Africa led to crossbreeding to form an Africanized-Spanish strain. This has led to the disappearance of the Italian mix.

 According to research published  in Science (a professional journal), Dr. Spencer Johnston of Texas A&M University said "It is clear that introduced African bees mated with existing U.S. bees and that colonies with large portions of the African bee genome were able to out-compete the original U.S. mixture..."

Johnston also asked "Why the Africanized honey bee successfully invaded the New World but has not moved across Europe, we don't know, Maybe (the U.S. varieties) were selected (by beekeepers) for everything but competition."

There are many reasons for such an interest in the honey bee genome. Importantly, honey bees represent major pollinators leading to many food crops beyond the honey which they produce. Additionally, there has been a demise of bees ongoing over the past number of years. As noted above, one of the causes for this demise may be the introduction of a more genetically competitive subspecies.  Another line of research reported by the CBC relates to research undertaken in PEI which is mapping the pesticide residues in soil as it relates to Honey Bee demise. As this is ongoing research, I have no data to report on this at this time.

 As well, there is attribution of the die-off to microscopic mites which have infected commercial hives and spreads through the methods of shipping and trading bees by the keepers. At this time, import of bees from the continental U.S. is banned to prevent the spread of parasitic Varroa mites, which are known to weaken honeybees.

 Finally, there are some groups such as the Sierra Club and the Northwest Resistance Against Genetic Engineering, a group which advocates the banning of genetic engineering, who suggest that the demise of honey bees is attributed to the growth of genetically modified crops. While they have no empirical evidence, they continue to advocate caution in the use of genetically engineered crops.