Evolutionary Genetics  Group

Integration of functional and evolutionary questions

The advanced knowledge in molecular biology has overcome the traditional distinctions of developmental biology, cell biology, genetics and biochemistry and will further allow the integration of evolutionary biology into a new synthesis of biology. The combination of molecular genetics and population genetics approaches will give a more comprehensive understanding of how functions are encoded and of how these functions have originated. 

Honey bees are especially interesting as they combine notable behavioral and developmental characteristics that represent major transitions in evolution such as social organization, cooperative behavior and a haplodiploid life-cycle.  

The molecular analysis of these diverged functions will deduce basic biological principles and novel molecular mechanisms. The honey bee genome sequence and the progress in  analyzing gene functions in the honey bee has opened the door to address these questions.

Gempe, T, Hasselmann, M, Schiøtt M, Hause, G, Otte, M, Beye, M (2009)  Sex determination in honeybees: Two separate mechanisms induce and maintain the female pathway. PloS Biology 7 (10): e1000222.  Synopsis in PloS Biology
 
Gempe, T. & Beye, M. Sex determination in honeybees. Nature Education 2(2), (2009)

Hasselmann M, Gempe T,  Schiøtt M,  Nunes-Silva C-G, Otte M, Beye M (2008) Evidence for the evolutionary nascence of a novel sex determination pathway in honey bees. Nature  454 : 519-522, Dispatch in Current Biology (D.Charlesworth); Report in EMBO

Honey bee genome consortium  (2006) Insights into social insects from the genome of the honey bee Apis mellifera., Nature, 473: 931-949 (cover story).

Beye M, Hasselmann M, Omholt SW, Fondrk MK, Page RE, (2003) The gene csd is the primary signal for sexual development in the honey bee and encodes an SR-type protein, Cell, 114: 419-429.(cover story)

Hasselmann M, Beye M (2004) Signatures of selection among sex-determining alleles of  the honey bee, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 101: 4888-4893.

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