Canonical TTAGG-repeat telomeres and telomerase in the honey bee, Apis mellifera

The draft assembly of the honey bee Apis mellifera genome sequence reveals that the 17 centromeric-distal telomeres are of a simple, shared, and canonical structure, with 3-4 kb of a unique subtelomeric sequence, followed by several kilobases of TTAGG or variant telomeric repeats. This simple subtelomeric structure differs from the centromeric-proximal telomeres on the short arms of the 15 acrocentric chromosomes, which are apparently composed primarily of the 176-bp AluI tandem repeat. This dichotomy between the distal and proximal telomeres may involve differential participation of the telomeres of the 15 acrocentric chromosomes in the Rabl configuration after mitosis and the chromosome bouquet in meiotic prophase I. As expected from the presence of canonical TTAGG telomeric repeats, we identified a candidate telomerase gene in the bee, as well as the silkmoth Bombyx mori and the flour beetle Tribolium castaneum.