Aspergillus species occupy a diversity of niches within the honey bee (Apis mellifera) hive environment. The best documented niche is as a causal agent (Aspergillus flavus) of the fungal disease “stonebrood”. Additionally, non-aflatoxigenic strains of A. flavus are implicated as mutualists within the hive environment; however, no direct evidence supports this assumption. Previous research indicates that a newly isolated beebread-derived non-aflatoxigenic A. flavus strain is more tolerant of in-hive abiotic stress than other free-living (AF36) and pathogenic strains and suggests possible adaptation to the honey bee hive environment. However, the new strain was isolated from a single honey bee colony, providing little insight into the wider ecological role of the beebread-derived strain. GEMS trainee Samantha Mowery aims to broaden the study of A. flavus in beehives by investigating the frequency of occurrence of this specific beebread-derived strain within other honey bee colonies through comparative genomics with other A. flavus strains isolated from beebread samples, as ubiquity within the hive environment may indicate a potential mutualistic ecological relationship.