RNA-seq of Bombus lucorum and Bombus lapidarius male fat body and male cephalic labial gland

Males of many bumblebee species produce species-specific marking pheromones which attract conspecific virgin queens. We sequenced transcriptomes of cephalic labial gland (which produces the marking pheromones) and transcriptomes of fat body (which served in our study as a reference tissue) from two common European bumblebee species, Bombus lucorum and Bombus lapidarius. Analysis of these datasets enables identification of enzyme-encoding gene candidates involved in biosynthesis of bumblebee male marking pheromones and comparison of the pheromone-biosynthetic gene candidates across species uncovers the evolution of pheromone production.