Genetic Variation in Iranian Honey bees, Apis mellifera meda Skorikow, 1829, (Hymenoptera: Apidae) Inferred from PCR-RFLP Analysis of two mtDNA Gene Segments (COI and 16S rDNA)

Ataollah Rahimi,Samad Jamali,Alinaghi Mirmoayedi,Danial Kahrizi,Leila Zarei

doi:10.13102/sociobiology.v65i3.2876

Ataollah Rahimi, Samad Jamali + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.13102/sociobiology.v65i3.2876

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Journal: Sociobiology	Publication Date: Oct 2, 2018
Citations: 7	License type: cc-by

Affiliation: Razi University, Razi Hospital

Abstract

In this study, the genetic structure of Iranian honey bee (Apis mellifera meda) populations, mainly obtained from all of regions, were investigated at two different mitochondrial regions. A total of 300 worker bees were collected from 20 different populations in 20 different locations. Portions of the mitochondrial 16S ribosomal RNA (16S rDNA) and cytochrome C oxidase I (COI) genes were amplified by PCR and then subjected to RFLP pattern analysis using 8 restriction enzymes. Nucleotide polymorphisms were revealed using restriction enzyme Sau3A I, Ssp I and Taq I in COI and Bsp143I, Ssp I and Dra I in the 16S rDNA gene segment. In this study, 3 novel composite genotypes (haplotypes) were found in Iranian honey bee populations. The average haplotype diversity (h) within populations was 0.0405. Heterozygosity values, Shannon index and the number of alleles of Iranian honey bee populations were low that could be caused by low definite geographic structure of Iranian honey bee populations. Genetic distance (D) values were found to be low (0.0–0.0011) within Iranian honey bee populations. Cluster analysis based on UPGMA method revealed that all populations and samples groups be in one cluster. Also, the phylogenetic tree based on Neighbor-joining method divided 29 subspecies of honey bee to 5 distinct clusters. The Iranian subspecies honey bee composed of a shared clade with subspecies of Eastern Mediterranean, Near East and Eastern parts of Middle East (O branch). This result is very useful for the control of conservation of local honey bees, as the movement of colonies across the border line of these neighboring countries, may affect the genetic structure of honey bee populations.

Highlights

Intraspecific taxonomy of the honey bee Apis mellifera L. has been based mainly on morphology
The main aim of the present research was to determine the level of genetic differentiation among Iranian honey bee populations as discriminated using PCR-RFLP pattern analysis of the C oxidase I (COI) and 16S rDNA gene regions of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), and the results of this study were compared with the results of other earlier mitochondrial studies of honey bees, such comparison thereby allowing much more complete estimation of the genetic structure of Iranian honey bee populations than until now previously possible using morphometrics alone
Sau3A I, Ssp I and Taq I restrictions in COI and Sau3A I, Ssp I and Dra I restriction in the 16S rDNA gene each generated two different restriction profiles in Iranian honey bee populations (Table 2)

Summary

Introduction

Intraspecific taxonomy of the honey bee Apis mellifera L. has been based mainly on morphology. Genetic systems such as allozymes (Nunamaker & Wilson, 1982; Badino et al, 1988), nuclear DNA (Hall, 1990; Tarès et al, 1993), mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) (Moritz et al, 1986; Smith et al, 1989, 1991; Hunt & Page, 1992; Garnery et al, 1993; Oldroyd et al, 1995; Arias and Sheppard, 1996; Pedersen, 1996; De la Rùa et al, 2000) and microsatellites (Estoup et al, 1993; Garnery et al, 1998) have been used to study honey bee diversification. Maternal inheritance of mtDNA has been demonstrated for honey bees (Smith, 1991; Meusel & Moritz, 1993; Arias & Sheppard, 1996; Francisco et al, 2001; Pinto et al, 2003)

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