Allozyme genetic characterization of Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera: Apidae) colonies from Bulgaria with different hygienic behaviour

Abstract

The genetic variability in 25 honey bee colonies from different regions of Bulgaria with diverse hygienic behaviour (super hygienic, hygienic and non-hygienic) has been studied. Alloenzyme analysis of two systems (MDH-1 and EST-3) corresponding to 2 loci was used in order to characterize the colony polymorphism. Totally 1,150 worker bees were included in this investigation. MDH-1 locus was found to be polymorphic in all of the studied colonies, having two alleles – MDH-165 and MDH-1100. The EST-3 locus was fixed in ten of the investigated colonies. Polymorphism with total presence of four alleles of this locus (EST-380, EST-388, EST-3100 and EST-3118) was found in the other studied colonies. The calculated polymorphism was between 50% and 100%. The observed and expected heterozygosities (Ho and He) ranged from 0.296 to 0.354 and from 0.280 to 0.332 in non-hygienic and super hygienic groups, respectively. The calculated mean observed and expected heterozygosities were 0.320 and 0.307, respectively. The calculated Fst and Nm levels demonstrated lower differentiation between super hygienic and hygienic colonies and higher differentiation between super hygienic and non-hygienic colonies. Dissimilarities between levels of polymorphism, heterozygosity, Fst, Nm and allele frequencies in the studied groups of colonies with different hygienic behaviour were found and discussed. The results of the present study provide new information concerning relations between hygienic behaviour and allozyme characteristics which could be used for future selection with honey bees in Bulgaria.

Keywords

• Apis mellifera
• genetic polymorphism
• hygienic behaviour