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Varroa destructor

Summary
Resource Type
Organism
Genus
Varroa
Species
destructor
Common Name
honeybee mite
Description

The ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructor, of the mite order Mesostigmata, originated in Asia as a pest of the Asian honey bee (Apis cerana).  However, subsequent to making a host switch and becoming a primary parasite of the domesticated Western honey bee (Apis mellifera), it has successfully spread almost worldwide and is considered the most damaging pest to beekeeping.  V. destructor is an obligate parasite of immature and adult bees, and is a confirmed vector of viral pathogens important for bee health.
Genomic and transcriptomic data from V. destructor and its sister species Varroa jacobsoni, which also recently switched hosts, will allow for a comparative approach to understanding the mechanisms underlying host switches and enable population genomics studies aiming to reconstruct global demographic history and dispersal of V. destructor.

Genome update. Previously, the i5k Workspace@NAL hosted Varroa destructor genome assembly Vdes_3.0 (GCF_002443255.2), NCBI Varroa destructor Annotation Release 100, and Functional annotations of NCBI Varroa destructor Annotation Release 100. The assembly and annotations have updated to the most recent assembly, Varroa destructor genome assembly Vdes_3.0 (GCF_002443255.2) (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/datasets/genome/GCF_002443255.2//), NCBI Varroa destructor Annotation Release 100 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genome/annotation_euk/Varroa_destructor/100/), and Functional annotations of NCBI Varroa destructor Annotation Release 100 (https://i5k.nal.usda.gov/data/Arthropoda/vardes-%28Varroa_destructor%29/Vdes_3.0/2.Official%20or%20Primary%20Gene%20Set//).

Publication
Techer MA, Rane RV, Grau ML, Roberts JMK, Sullivan ST, Liachko I, Childers AK, Evans JD, Mikheyev AS. Divergent evolutionary trajectories following speciation in two ectoparasitic honey bee mites.. Communications biology. 2019; 2:357.
Organism Image
Image Credit
Maeva Techer, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Analysis
NameProgramDate Constructed
NCBI Varroa destructor Annotation Release 100NCBI Eukaryotic annotation pipelineSep 14th, 2018
Varroa destructor genome assembly Vdes_3.0 (GCF_002443255.1)Newbler v. 2.6; pbjelly v. 15.8.24Sep 27th, 2017
Functional annotation of NCBI Varroa destructor Annotation Release 100AgBase functional annotation pipelineSep 30th, 2020
Varroa destructor genome assembly Vdes_3.0 (GCF_002443255.2)Newbler v. 2.6; pbjelly v. 15.8.24Sep 26th, 2017
Assembly Stats
Contig N50
NA
Scaffold N50
58,536,683
GC Content
35.82
Other Information
Community Contact
Maeva Techer, Texas A&M University; Jay Evans, USDA-ARS
Links