In late May, the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) released its priority list of organisms under consideration for entry into the sequencing pipeline: One was the honeybee. It was a move that has numerous supporters. "We feel that sequencing [the bee] ... will provide important tools and unique models for a variety of different areas of biology, including social behavior," says Gene E. Robinson, professor of entomology and director of the neuroscience program at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and lead author of the proposal that the NHGRI reviewed.
Robinson ticks off numerous reasons why the honeybee fits the institute's sequencing requirements: Bees are models for learning and memory; for studies of allergic disease; for gerontology research, as the long-lived, egg-producing queen is genetically identical to the much shorter-lived female workers; for studies of venom toxicology; and for studies of infectious diseases in dense societies. "The basic thrust that ...
