Apidologie 38 (2007) 47-54
DOI: 10.1051/apido:2006056

16S mtDNA variation in Apis mellifera detected by PCR-RFLP

Thaís Collet^a, Maria Cristina Arias^b and Marco Antonio Del Lama<sup>a

a</sup>  Departamento de Genética e Evolução, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, CP 676 CEP 13.565-905, São Carlos, SP, Brazil
^b  Departamento de Genética e Biologia Evolutiva, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, CEP 05508.900, São Paulo, Brazil

(Received 13 December 2005 - Accepted 6 June 2006 - Published online 16 January 2007)

Abstract - Phylogeographic and morphometric evidence can be used to cluster Apis mellifera subspecies into evolutionary lineages or branches. Mitochondrial DNA sequence and restriction site analyses have shown similar clustering of subspecies groups. Thus, mtDNA variation can be used to infer honey bee evolutionary relationships. In this paper, we describe three 16S mtDNA PCR-RFLP patterns, each one completely associated with a previously determined A, M, or C Dra I restriction pattern of the COI-COII region. These results indicate that the COI-COII and the 16S genes have had a very closely linked evolutionary history. Although distinct patterns were obtained with Eco RI, Alu I, Hinc II and Taq I, the best differentiation among the three patterns was observed with Dra I and Vsp I enzymes. Nucleotide sequence analysis of the16S gene fragment displayed 10 sites of base substitution (1.35%) among the three patterns and two insertions in the A. m.  scutellata pattern.

Key words: Apis mellifera / 16S patterns / mitochondrial DNA / PCR-RFLP

Corresponding author: dmdl@power.ufscar.br

© INRA, DIB-AGIB, EDP Sciences 2007