A GRIDDED GENOMIC LIBRARY OF THE HONEYBEE (APIS-MELLIFERA) - A REFERENCE LIBRARY-SYSTEM FOR BASIC AND COMPARATIVE GENETIC-STUDIES OF A HYMENOPTERAN GENOME

We present a gridded genomic library of the honeybee (Apis mellifera) for comparative and basic genetic study of the honeybee genome. The li brary will be established as a ''Reference Library'' system, and clone s as well as data will be shared with the entire scientific community. This will accelerate the molecular level of honeybee genetics, combin ing the efforts of different laboratories. Because of male haploidy an d the high rate of recombination, the honeybee is becoming a model org anism for genomic studies of naturally occurring traits and behavioral genetics. The library consists of about 110,000 clones spotted at hig h density onto four filter membranes, representing 22 genome equivalen ts. Preliminary analysis using single-copy sequences revealed a positi ve clone number of the same order. The techniques for library generati on and preliminary analysis as well as library access are described. ( C) 1998 Academic Press.