Estimation of intracolonial worker relationship in a honey bee colony (Apis mellifera L.) using DNA fingerprinting

Summary The number and frequencies of subfamilies in a honey bee colony were determined by DNA fingerprinting. Queen and brood samples were taken from three colonies with artificially inseminated queens and from one colony with a naturally mated queen. UsingHae III restriction enzyme and (GATA)₄ oligonucleotide, the number of subfamilies in the colonies with artificially inseminated queens corresponded with the number of drones used for insemination. In the colony with the naturally mated queen, 12 subfamilies were found in a random sample of 104 workers. Considering that subfamily frequencies range from 1 to 26%, introcolonial worker relationship was estimated to be 0.328, corresponding to a genetical effective number of 6.4 matings.