PLOS AMA: Hi reddit, we’re Andreas, Matthew, and Martin and we discovered changes in the honey bee genome that determine adaptation to high-altitude forest habitats – Ask us anything!

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Hi Reddit,

My name is Martin Hasselmann and I am Professor and Chair of the Department of Livestock Population Genomics at the University of Hohenheim. My research focuses on deciphering the evolutionary signatures and underlying molecules that leave environmental interactions in the genome, mainly in honey bees.

And my name is Matthew Webster and I am an Associate Professor at Uppsala University. My research focuses on understanding the evolutionary forces that shape genetic variation in natural populations.

We recently published a paper entitled "Two extended haplotype blocks are associated with adaptation to high altitude habitats in East African honey bees" in PLOS Genetics. In this paper, we uncover changes in the genomes of honeybees from the mountains of East Africa that govern adaptation to high-altitude forest habitats. These genetic changes involve large parts of chromosomes or "supergenes". This paper opens the avenue to study possibly co-adapted supergenes encoding behavior in honey bees in greater detail. Scientists are also realising that supergenes are important for environmental adaptation in many other species of animals and plants.

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">PLOS AMA: Hi reddit, we’re Andreas, Matthew, and Martin and we discovered changes in the honey bee genome that determine adaptation to high-altitude forest habitats – Ask us anything!