Screening of microorganisms and plants associated with Coelioxoides waltheriae (Hymenoptera: Apidae) from omics data

• Grant number: 24/02901-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: July 01, 2024
• End date: June 30, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Animal Genetics
• Principal Investigator: Maria Cristina Arias
• Grantee: Heraldo Mauch
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Presenting a wide range of behaviors, with different levels of social organization, bees have kleptoparasitism present in approximately 13% of all 20,700 species already described. However, there is still a large knowledge gap involving various aspects of kleptoparasitic bees. In turn, approaches such as transcriptomics and genomics have been playing a key role in filling these gaps. It is common for these data to contain sequences of organisms that are associated with the species of interest, such as bacteria, fungi and viruses, which are central components of interspecific relationships in bees. The standard practice has been to discard these "contaminant" sequences in order to facilitate data analysis. But analysis of these "contaminants" allows us to identify, in addition to the organisms already mentioned, the plants visited by the target organism. In this context, we propose to establish a protocol for analyzing contaminants in bees based on omics data, through tests involving different sequence screening strategies. We will start by analyzing the transcriptomic and genomic data of Coelioxoides waltheriae Ducke, 1908 with the objective of identifying organisms associated with this species. For C. waltheriae, we expect to find sequences from bacteria, viruses, archaea, "SAR supergroup", plants and mites. We also expect a certain degree of overlap in relation to plant-based data already verified on its host, Tetrapedia diversipes, as the parasite invades the nest to lay its eggs. Furthermore, discordant data may indicate flowers visited by the parasite in its adult phase. This information can provide a deeper insight into the ecological dynamics in which this species is inserted.