Abstract.
The primitively social bumblebee Bombus terrestris is an ecological model species as well as an important agricultural pollinator. As part of the ongoing development of genomic resources for this model organism, we have constructed a publicly available bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) library from males of a field-derived colony. We have shown that this library has a high coverage, which allows any particular sequence to be retrieved from at least one clone with a probability of 99.7%. We have further demonstrated the library’s usefulness by successfully screening it with probes derived both from previously described B. terrestris genes and candidate genes from another bumblebee species and the honeybee. This library will facilitate genomic studies in B. terrestris and will allow for novel comparative studies in the social Hymenoptera.
Similar content being viewed by others
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Received 12 March 2008; revised 13 September 2008; accepted 17 September 2008.
R. Schmid-Hempel: contact for data repository of this BAC library
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wilfert, L., Torres, M.M., Reber-Funk, C. et al. Construction and characterization of a BAC-library for a key pollinator, the bumblebee Bombus terrestris L.. Insect. Soc. 56, 44–48 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-008-1034-1
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-008-1034-1