中国意大利蜜蜂微卫星遗传多态性

为了分析我国不同生态条件下意大利蜜蜂Apis mellifera ligustica（简称意蜂）的基因特征,对品种间基因交流或基因渗入现象进行监测,完成对我国主要地区意蜂多样性水平的评价。本研究利用10对微卫星（SSR）引物分析了来自我国黑龙江等14个省市自治区31个采集点的意蜂样品的遗传多态性,并与来自德国的喀尼阿兰蜂A. m. carnica（简称喀蜂）和来自美国的意蜂A. m. ligustica进行比对。通过NTSYS-pc2.1和popGene32软件对SSR数据进行多态性分析。结果表明：10对SSR引物中8对表现出较高的遗传稳定性,可作为意蜂遗传多态性标记。遗传一致度在0.61以上时,浙江、四川、甘肃和云南地区的样品出现较严重分化,其他地区的意蜂样品则保持了美国原种意蜂的典型基因特征。东北和新疆地区的样品与德国喀蜂血统亲缘关系较近（遗传距离在0.18149以内）,分析主要原因可能是该地区的意蜂样品杂有黑蜂A. m. mellifera血统。据此提出应在保护各地意蜂原种特性及种群多态性的基础上,科学有效地进行高产品种的繁育。     

Genetic structure of Balearic honeybee populations based on microsatellite polymorphism

The genetic variation of honeybee colonies collected in 22 localities on the Balearic Islands (Spain) was analysed using eight polymorphic microsatellite loci. Previous studies have demonstrated that these colonies belong either to the African or west European evolutionary lineages. These populations display low variability estimated from both the number of alleles and heterozygosity values, as expected for the honeybee island populations. Although genetic differentiation within the islands is low, significant heterozygote deficiency is present, indicating a subpopulation genetic structure. According to the genetic differentiation test, the honeybee populations of the Balearic Islands cluster into two groups: Gimnesias (Mallorca and Menorca) and Pitiusas (Ibiza and Formentera), which agrees with the biogeography postulated for this archipelago. The phylogenetic analysis suggests an Iberian origin of the Balearic honeybees, thus confirming the postulated evolutionary scenario for Apis mellifera in the Mediterranean basin. The microsatellite data from Formentera, Ibiza and Menorca show that ancestral populations are threatened by queen importations, indicating that adequate conservation measures should be developed for protecting Balearic bees.     

蜜蜂（Apis）苹果酸脱氢酶同工酶的研究进展

苹果酸脱氢酶（MDH）是糖代谢中重要的酶。在西方蜜蜂（Apis mellifera L.）中,MDH分为3个区带MDHⅠ、MDHⅡ和MDH Ⅲ。不同级型和不同发育阶段,MDHⅠ和MDH Ⅲ变化不大;MDHⅡ呈现多态现象,由a、b、c3个等位基因编码。东方蜜蜂（A.cerana F.）的MDH由S、F两个等位基因编码,也有报道它是单态性的。MDH在西方蜜蜂研究中应用较多,主要有处女王交配次数;蜂群中的劳动分工;蜜蜂种群遗传组成分析等。MDH和分子生物学的结合研究势必将推动蜜蜂研究的深入和发展。 Research Progress in Malate Dehydrogenase(MDH) of Honeybees LIU Yan-he1,ZHANG Chuan-xi1,XU Bao-hua2,3,CHEN Sheng-lu1 1.Institute of Applied Entomology,Zhejiang University,Hangzhou 310029,China; 2.College of Animal Science,Zhejiang University,Hangzhou 310029,China; 3.College of Animal Sciences,Shandong Agricaltural University,Taian 271018,China Abstract:Malate dehydrogenase(MDH) is an important enzyme in glycometabolism.MDH of Apis mellifera showed three enzyme active zones,MDHⅠ,MDHⅡand MDHⅢ.MDHⅠand MDHⅢ maintained relative stability in different castes and developmental phases,but MDHⅡwas polymorphic,and controlled by three alleles,a,b and c.MDH of Apis cerana was coded by S and F alleles,but some authors reported it is monomorphic.MDH was applied to the studies of A.mellifera,which included several aspects as follows:the number of queen matings,labor division in honeybee societies,the analysis of genetic constitution in honeybee populations and so on.The combination of both MDH and molecular biology will certainly promote honeybee studies. Key words：honeybees;malate dehydrogenase(MDH)     

10,000 years in isolation? Honeybees (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Apis mellifera</Emphasis>) in Saharan oases

After the transition from a savannah to a desert about 10,000 years ago the isolated Saharan oases offer a unique case for studying the effect of population fragmentation and isolation over a period of many thousand years. We use the honeybee, Apis mellifera, as a test system because they are an abundant wild species in the African dry savannahs but are particularly sensitive to drift and bottlenecks in small isolated populations due to the small effective size resulting from male haploidy, the sex determination system and sociality. We compared the non-fragmented coastal population with the oases of Brak and Kufra using 15 polymorphic microsatellite loci assessing the mating frequency, colony density, gene diversity, and population differentiation. We found that the honeybee population of the remote oasis of Kufra is well isolated whereas those of the oasis of Brak and the coastal regions show genetic foot prints of introgression by commercial beekeeping. The isolated Kufra population showed no indications of inbreeding suggesting that the endemic population size is sufficient to ensure sustainable local survival.     

A microsatellite DNA toolkit for studying population structure in Apis mellifera

We present a set of 18 microsatellite DNA markers that can be run in two multiplex polymerase chain reactions as standard tool for assessing molecular ecological problems in honeybees (Apis mellifera). In addition to a set of six unlinked loci testing for classical population genetic parameters, we present three sets of four tightly linked loci, each located on three different chromosomes. These linked markers are useful for determining the number of colonies in a population as well as the parentage of drones and workers. Moreover, the tool kit can test for various modes of natural selection in honeybee populations.     

引入西方蜜蜂对中蜂的危害及生态影响

作者阐述自1896年中国引进西方蜜蜂Apis melliferaL.的优良品种如意大利蜂Apis mellifera ligusticaSpinola和喀尼阿兰蜂Apis mellifera Carnica Pollmann以来,使当地的东方蜜蜂Apis cerana F.受到严重危害,其分布区域缩小75%以上,种群数量减少80%以上。使山林植物授粉总量减少,导致植物多样性减少。文中提出: 建立自然保护区保存本地蜜蜂遗传特性,和采用基因转移等技术,培育具有西方蜜蜂优良生产性能的中蜂新品种,逐步恢复中蜂的种群数量。     

Molecular characterization of MRJP3, highly polymorphic protein of honeybee (Apis mellifera) royal jelly.

Major proteins of honey bee (Apis mellifera) royal jelly are members of the MRJP protein family. One MRJP protein termed MRJP3 exhibits a size polymorphism as detected by SDS-PAGE. In this report we show that polymorphism of the MRJP3 protein is a consequence of the polymorphism of a region with a variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR) located at the C-terminal part of the MRJP3 coding region. We present the characterization of five polymorphic alleles of MRJP3 by DNA sequencing. By PCR analyses, at least 10 alleles of distinct sizes were found in randomly sampled bees. Studies with nurse bees from a single honeybee colony revealed both Mendelian inheritance and very high variability of the MRJP3 genomic locus. The high variability and simple detection of the MRJP3 polymorphism may be useful for genotyping of individuals in studies of the honeybee.     

Deciding on the wing: in-flight decision making and search space sampling in the red dwarf honeybee Apis florea

During reproductive swarming and seasonal migration, a honeybee swarm needs to locate and move to a new, suitable nest site. While the nest-site selection process in cavity-nesting species such as the European honeybee Apis mellifera is very precise with the swarm carefully selecting a single site, open-nesting species, such as Apis florea, lack such precision. These differences in precision in the nest-site selection process are thought to arise from the differing nest-site requirements of open- and cavity-nesting species. While A. florea can nest on almost any tree, A. mellifera is constrained by the scarcity of suitable nest sites. Here we show that imprecision in the nest-site selection process allows swarms to quickly reach a decision when many nest sites are available. In contrast, a very precise nest-site selection process slows down the decision-making process when nest sites are abundant.     

The impact of apiculture on the genetic structure of wild honeybee populations (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Apis mellifera</Emphasis>) in Sudan

Apiculture often relies on the importation of non-native honeybees (Apis mellifera) and large distance migratory beekeeping. These activities can cause biodiversity conflicts with the conservation of wild endemic honeybee subspecies. We studied the impact of large scale honeybee imports on managed and wild honeybee populations in Sudan, a centre of biodiversity of A. mellifera, using as set of linked microsatellite DNA loci and mitochondrial DNA markers. The mitochondrial DNA analyses showed that all wild honey bees exclusively belonged to African haplotypes. However, we revealed non-native haplotypes in managed colonies on apiaries reflecting unambiguous evidence of imports from European stock. Moreover, we found significantly higher linkage disequilibria for microsatellite markers in wild populations in regions with apiculture compared to wild populations which had no contact to beekeeping. Introgression of imported honeybees was only measurable at the population level in close vicinity to apicultural activities but not in wild populations which represent the vast majority of honeybees in Sudan.     

Inference on microsatellite mutation processes in the invasive mite, Varroa destructor, using reversible jump Markov chain Monte Carlo

Varroa destructor is a parasitic mite of the Eastern honeybee Apis cerana. Fifty years ago, two distinct evolutionary lineages (Korean and Japanese) invaded the Western honeybee Apis mellifera. This haplo-diploid parasite species reproduces mainly through brother-sister matings, a system which largely favors the fixation of new mutations. In a worldwide sample of 225 individuals from 21 locations collected on Western honeybees and analyzed at 19 microsatellite loci, a series of de novo mutations was observed. Using historical data concerning the invasion, this original biological system has been exploited to compare three mutation models with allele size constraints for microsatellite markers: stepwise (SMM) and generalized (GSM) mutation models, and a model with mutation rate increasing exponentially with microsatellite length (ESM). Posterior probabilities of the three models have been estimated for each locus individually using reversible jump Markov Chain Monte Carlo. The relative support of each model varies widely among loci, but the GSM is the only model that always receives at least 9% support, whatever the locus. The analysis also provides robust estimates of mutation parameters for each locus and of the divergence time of the two invasive lineages (67,000 generations with a 90% credibility interval of 35,000-174,000). With an average of 10 generations per year, this divergence time fits with the last post-glacial Korea-Japan land separation.     

Spatial differences in worker policing facilitate social parasitism of Cape honeybee workers (Apis mellifera capensis Esch.) in queenright host colonies

Insectes Sociaux - Cape honeybee laying workers (Apis mellifera capensis) produce female diploid offspring and are facultative social parasites. In queenright host colonies, such workers have to...     

对蜜蜂性别决定和蜂王级型确立理论的新诠释

从全新视角概貌性解读蜜蜂Apis诸多生殖机制,依据的就是蜂王或产卵工蜂的卵子发生、性别决定假说、性位点研究以及蜂王级型确立机制。这种不同于单倍-二倍性性别决定机制的新诠释,适用于明确性别决定机制、简化定向育种方法、减少比较性实验的难度和时间、实施亲子鉴定和抽象并量化种群的概念。     

Gaseous neuromodulator-related genes expressed in the brain of honeybee Apis mellifera

Nitric oxide (NO), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), and carbon monoxide (CO) are thought to act as gaseous neuromodulators in the brain across species. For example, in the brain of honeybee Apis mellifera, NO plays important roles in olfactory learning and discrimination, but the existence of H2S- and CO-mediated signaling pathways remains unknown. In the present study, we identified the genes of nitric oxide synthase (NOS), soluble guanylyl cyclase (sGC), cystathionine beta-synthase (CBS), and heme oxygenase (HO) from the honeybee brain. The honeybee brain contains at least one gene for each of NOS, CBS, and HO. The deduced proteins for NOS, CBS, and HO are thought to contain domains to generate NO, H2S, and CO, respectively, and to contain putative Ca2+/calmodulin-binding domains. On the other hand, the honeybee brain contains three subunits of sGC: sGCalpha1, sGCbeta1, and sGCbeta3. Phylogenetic analysis of sGC revealed that Apis sGCalpha1 and sGCbeta1 are closely related to NO- and CO-sensitive sGC subunits, whereas Apis sGCbeta3 is closely related to insect O2-sensitive sGC subunits. In addition, we performed in situ hybridization for Apis NOS mRNA and NADPH-diaphorase histochemistry in the honeybee brain. The NOS gene was strongly expressed in the optic lobes and in the Kenyon cells of the mushroom bodies. NOS activity was detected in the optic lobes, the mushroom bodies, the central body complex, the lateral protocerebral lobes, and the antennal lobes. These findings suggest that NO is involved in various brain functions and that H2S and CO can be endogenously produced in the honeybee brain.     

Fertility and reproductive rate of Varroa mite,Varroa destructor,in native and exotic honeybee,Apis mellifera L., colonies under Saudi Arabia conditions

Varroa mite is the most destructive pest to bee colonies worldwide. In Saudi Arabia, preliminary data indicated high infestation levels in the exotic honeybee colonies; such as Apis mellifera carnica and Apis mellifera ligustica, compared to native honeybee subspecies Apis mellifera jemenitica, which may imply higher tolerance to Varroasis. In this study, fertility and reproductive rate of Varroa mite, Varroa destructor, in capped brood cells of the native honeybee subspecies were investigated and compared with an exotic honeybee subspecies, A. m. carnica. Mite fertility was almost alike (87.5% and 89.4%) in the native and craniolan colonies respectively. Similarly, results did not show significant differences in reproduction rate between both subspecies (F = 0.66, Pr > F = 0.42). Number of adult Varroa daughters per fertile mother mite was 2.0 and 2.1 for native and craniolan honeybee subspecies respectively. This may indicate that mechanisms of keeping low infestation rates in the native honeybee colonies are not associated with Varroa reproduction. Therefore, potential factors of keeping lower Varroa infestation rates in native honey bee subspecies should be further investigated.     

A technical note for using microsatellite DNA analyses in haploid male DNA pools of social Hymenoptera

Summary The analyses of haploid male DNA pooled (MDP) samples can increase the cost efficiency in population genetic studies for a variety of applications in fundamental and applied screening of social Hymenoptera populations. Depending on the research problem addressed it can reduce the number of genotyped samples per study by orders of magnitude. In this study we show the feasibility of MDPs for assessing population allele frequencies, mother queen genotypes and mutation rates for microsatellite loci in the honeybee (Apis mellifera). The main purpose of MDP genotyping is not to replace individual based analyses but to discard non-informative samples and monomorphic loci from further analyses.     

East learns from West: Asiatic honeybees can understand dance language of European honeybees

The honeybee waggle dance, through which foragers advertise the existence and location of a food source to their hive mates, is acknowledged as the only known form of symbolic communication in an invertebrate. However, the suggestion, that different species of honeybee might possess distinct 'dialects' of the waggle dance, remains controversial. Furthermore, it remains unclear whether different species of honeybee can learn from and communicate with each other. This study reports experiments using a mixed-species colony that is composed of the Asiatic bee Apis cerana cerana (Acc), and the European bee Apis mellifera ligustica (Aml). Using video recordings made at an observation hive, we first confirm that Acc and Aml have significantly different dance dialects, even when made to forage in identical environments. When reared in the same colony, these two species are able to communicate with each other: Acc foragers could decode the dances of Aml to successfully locate an indicated food source. We believe that this is the first report of successful symbolic communication between two honeybee species; our study hints at the possibility of social learning between the two honeybee species, and at the existence of a learning component in the honeybee dance language.     

Determining colony densities in wild honeybee populations (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Apis mellifera</Emphasis>) with linked microsatellite DNA markers

Estimating the population size of social bee colonies in the wild is often difficult because nests are highly cryptic. Because of the honeybee (Apis mellifera) mating behaviour, which is characterized by multiple mating of queens at drone congregation areas (DCA), it is possible to use genotypes of drones caught at these areas to infer the number of colonies in a given region. However, DCAs are difficult to locate and we assess the effectiveness of an alternative sampling technique to determine colony density based on inferring male genotypes from queen offspring. We compare these methods in the same population of wild honeybees, Apis mellifera scutellata. A set of linked microsatellite loci is used to decrease the frequency of recombination among marker loci and therefore increase the precision of the estimates. Estimates of population size obtained through sampling of queen offspring is significantly larger than that obtained by sampling drones at DCAs. This difference may be due to the more extensive flying range of queens compared with drones on mating flights. We estimate that the population size sampled through queen offspring is about double that sampled through drones.     

The invasive Korea and Japan types of Varroa destructor, ectoparasitic mites of the Western honeybee (Apis mellifera), are two partly isolated clones

Varroa destructor, now a major pest of the Western honeybee, Apis mellifera, switched from its original host, the Eastern honeybee, A. cerana, ca. 50 years ago. So far, only two out of several known mitochondrial haplotypes of V. destructor have been found to be capable of reproducing on A. mellifera (Korea and Japan). These haplotypes are associated in almost complete cytonuclear disequilibrium to diagnostic alleles at 11 microsatellite loci. By contrast, microsatellite polymorphism within each type is virtually absent, because of a severe bottleneck at the time of host change. Accordingly, 12 mitochondrial sequences of 5185 nucleotides displayed 0.40% of nucleotide divergence between haplotypes and no intra haplotype variation. Hence, each type has a quasi-clonal structure. The nascent intratype variability is subsequent to the clone formation 50 years ago: in both types the variant alleles differ from the most common by one (in 10 cases), two (five cases) or three (one case) repeated motifs. In addition to individuals of the two 'pure' types, five F1 hybrids and 19 recombinant individuals (Japan alleles introgressed into the Korea genetic background) were detected. The existence of F1 and recombinant individuals in admixed populations requires that double infestations of honeybee cells occur in a high proportion but the persistence of pure types suggests a post-zygotic isolation between the two clones.     

基于微卫星标记的饶河黑蜂亲缘关系分析

为了摸清我国饶河黑蜂(亦称东北黑蜂)群体与俄罗斯蜜蜂(亦称USDA-ARS俄罗斯蜜蜂)、C形态学分支的卡尼鄂拉蜂Apis mellifera carnica、O形态学分支的高加索蜂Apis mellifera caucasica和安拉托尼亚蜂Apis mellifera anatoliaca之间的亲缘关系,本试验运用16个微卫星DNA标记,以来自饶河县7个区域(东北黑蜂国家级自然保护区所在地)的东北黑蜂为研究对象,其它5个蜜蜂群体为对照,分析了东北黑蜂与其他西方蜜蜂的亲缘关系、群体遗传结构和种质特性。结果表明东北黑蜂群体与俄罗斯蜜蜂亲缘关系最近(遗传距离(dμ)2=0.31～0.55),在遗传进化关系上处于同一进化分支,而与高加索蜂、安拉托尼亚蜂和卡尼鄂拉蜂的亲缘关系相对较远(遗传距离(dμ)2=0.52～0.86)。该实验结果进一步证明东北黑蜂起源于俄罗斯蜜蜂,其对东北黑蜂的选育、推广和保护具有重要的现实意义。