Nuclear and mitochondrial markers: molecular characterization of Africanized Apis mellifera queens as royal jelly producers

Abstract

Apis mellifera scutellata was introduced in Brazil in 1956. This subspecies originated from Africanized polyhybrid honey bees (A. mellifera), and quickly spread due to its high adaptability, reproductive behavior, foraging ability, and defensiveness. Good management practices have been developed that allow for good beekeeping performance of this introduced subspecies in Brazil. The selection of queens that produce royal jelly has made it possible to identify molecular markers to select the best matrices for the development of bee breeding programs to increase royal jelly production. We evaluated the ability of different major royal jelly protein-3 (mrjp3) microsatellite markers to verify the polymorphism of selected royal jelly-producing queens, as well as the mitochondrial DNA haplotypes of these queens to identify their African or European origin. We verified the maternal origins of the honey bee workers in eight colony matrices of Africanized A. mellifera belonging to a breeding program of FEI, UEM aimed at producing royal jelly. Analyses were performed for the identification of microsatellite mrjp3 markers in the nuclear DNA, and restriction fragment length polymorphism polymerase chain reaction (RFLP-PCR) was used to search for markers in the mtDNA (mitochondrial DNA). Six alleles were found for the mrjp3 locus, and it was possible to use these to infer the genotypes of queens from seven colonies. Throughout the selection period, the main alleles (C, D, and E) remained present in the genomes of queens producing royal jelly. Queens selected for royal jelly production contained a predominance of African mtDNA. Microsatellite markers and mtDNA can be used in bee breeding programs to ensure the genetic origin of the queens used and verify the efficiency of Africanized A. mellifera bee breeding programs.