Eye can see clearly now: Identifying the locus associated with a white-eye mutation in honey bees (Apis mellifera)

In insects, eye pigmentation is vital for various adaptive functions, including foraging, mating and predator avoidance. Due to its visible and often heritable variation, altered eye pigmentation in mutants provides an excellent model for studying biosynthetic pathways and identifying new genes involved in pigmentation. Eye mutants can also be valuable in science communication as they offer simplified examples to help the public understand complex genetic concepts. In this study, we used a community science-based approach to identify the inheritance pattern and mutation(s) responsible for white-eye pigmentation in honey bees. With the help of the beekeeping community, we identified a honey bee queen that produced a fraction of haploid sons (called drones) with white-eyes. As the queen was wild-type, we predicted that the mutation is most likely recessive to wild-type. Using genome-wide association and differentiation scans of wild-type and white-eyed drone brothers, we identified a single elevated region (52 kb) of chromosome 11. This region contains four non-coding RNA (ncRNA) and one protein-coding gene. We identified an eight-base pair region with two SNPs and a four-nucleotide deletion that are likely responsible for the phenotype. The mutation likely affects the expression and/or downstream effects of an uncharacterized ncRNA (LOC100578475). Our efforts highlight the value of community-based science in novel gene discovery. We hope this serves, not only as a new example for the burgeoning field of honey bee functional genomics, but also as a teaching tool for both researchers and educators.