A Single Gene Causes Thelytokous Parthenogenesis, the Defining Feature of the Cape Honeybee Apis mellifera capensis.

In honeybees, the ability of workers to produce daughters asexually, i.e., thelytokous parthenogenesis, is restricted to a single subspecies inhabiting the Cape region of South Africa, Apis mellifera capensis. Thelytoky has unleashed new selective pressures and the evolution of traits such as social parasitism, invasiveness, and social cancer. Thelytoky arises from an abnormal meiosis that results in the fusion of two maternal pronuclei, restoring diploidy in newly laid eggs. The genetic basis underlying thelytoky is disputed. To resolve this controversy, we generated a backcross between thelytokous A. m. capensis and non-thelytokous A. m. scutellata from the neighboring population and looked for evidence of genetic markers that co-segregated with thelytokous reproduction in 49 backcross females. We found that markers associated with the gene GB45239 on chromosome 11, including non-synonymous variants, showed consistent co-segregation with thelytoky, whereas no other region did so. Alleles associated with thelytoky were present in all A. m. capensis genomes examined but were absent from all other honeybees worldwide including A. m. scutellata. GB45239 is derived in A. m. capensis and has a putative role in chromosome segregation. It is expressed in ovaries and is downregulated in thelytokous bees, likely because of polymorphisms in the promoter region. Our study reveals how mutations affecting the sequence and/or expression of a single gene can change the reproductive mode of a population.

Structural and Functional Characterization of New SsoPox Variant Points to the Dimer Interface as a Driver for the Increase in Promiscuous Paraoxonase Activity.

Increasing attention is more and more directed toward the thermostable Phosphotriesterase-Like-Lactonase (PLL) family of enzymes, for the efficient and reliable decontamination of toxic nerve agents. In the present study, the DNA Staggered Extension Process (StEP) technique was utilized to obtain new variants of PLL enzymes. Divergent homologous genes encoding PLL enzymes were utilized as templates for gene recombination and yielded a new variant of SsoPox from Saccharolobus solfataricus. The new mutant, V82L/C258L/I261F/W263A (4Mut) exhibited catalytic efficiency of 1.6 × 105 M-1 s-1 against paraoxon hydrolysis at 70°C, which is more than 3.5-fold and 42-fold improved in comparison with C258L/I261F/W263A (3Mut) and wild type SsoPox, respectively. 4Mut was also tested with chemical warfare nerve agents including tabun, sarin, soman, cyclosarin and VX. In particular, 4Mut showed about 10-fold enhancement in the hydrolysis of tabun and soman with respect to 3Mut. The crystal structure of 4Mut has been solved at the resolution of 2.8 Å. We propose that, reorganization of dimer conformation that led to increased central groove volume and dimer flexibility could be the major determinant for the improvement in hydrolytic activity in the 4Mut.