ABSTRACT
Honeybees (Apis species) belong to the order Hymenoptera, which diverged from Diptera and Lepidoptera about 300 million years ago.1 Apart from the consumable bee products (i.e., honey, royal jelly, propolis, bee wax, and pollen), honeybees play a crucial role as a key pollinator for plants and thus maintain natural ecosystems. Due to their importance to man, the complete genomes for the European honeybee (Apis mellifera), together with its pathogens and parasites,2 were sequenced by 2006 to give insights into host-parasite relationships, transmission, and management of diseases to promote global bee populations.
