Francis M. F. Nunes

TL;DR: The genome sequence of the honeybee Apis mellifera is reported, suggesting a novel African origin for the species A. melliferA and insights into whether Africanized bees spread throughout the New World via hybridization or displacement.

TL;DR: Key findings include the identification of a functional DNA methylation tool kit; hymenopteran-specific genes including diverse venoms; lateral gene transfers among Pox viruses, Wolbachia, and Nasonia; and the rapid evolution of genes involved in nuclear-mitochondrial interactions that are implicated in speciation.

TL;DR: Overall, gene repertoires suggest that the route to advanced eusociality in bees was mediated by many small changes in many genes and processes, and not by notable expansion or depauperation.

TL;DR: There is no single road map to eusociality; independent evolutionary transitions in sociality have independent genetic underpinnings and these transitions do have similar general features, including an increase in constrained protein evolution accompanied by increases in the potential for gene regulation and decreases in diversity and abundance of transposable elements.

TL;DR: This work developed a non-invasive method for honeybee gene knockdown, using a well-established vitellogenin RNAi system as a model, and showed that RNAi ingestion did not elicit drastic collateral effects.