Apidologie 38 (2007) 238-246
DOI: 10.1051/apido:2007008

Mitochondrial DNA diversity of Chinese Apis cerana

Ken Tan^{a, b}, Natapot Warrit^c and Deborah Roan Smith<sup>c

a</sup>  Key Laboratory of Agricultural Biodiversity for Pest management, Ministry of Education, Yunnan Agricultural University, Heilongtan Kunming, 650201, China
^b  Eastern Bee Research Institute of Yunnan Agricultural University, Heilongtan Kunming, 650201, China
^c  Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Entomology Program, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA

(Received 17 November 2005 - Accepted 8 October 2006 - Published online 10 March 2007)

Abstract - DNA sequence diversity in a non-coding portion of the mitochondrial genome was investigated in samples of Apis cerana from 47 locations in China. Nine haplotypes (mitochondrial genotypes) were found: Japan1, Japan2, Korea4, and Cambodia2, which were previously reported from other populations, and China1-5, which are new. All nine sequences belong to the Mainland mitochondrial lineage, and none differs from the Japan1 haplotype by more than a single base substitution and/or a single insertion/deletion. Japan1 is the most common haplotype, making up 39 of 49 sequences. Haplotype diversity was 0.4 (s.d. 0.089) and nucleotide diversity was 0.00569 (s.d. 0.00154). By both measures the Chinese samples were more diverse than those from Japan and Thailand, similar to populations from Pakistan, Burma and Korea, and less diverse than samples from Indochina (Laos-Cambodia-Vietnam).

Key words: mitochondrial DNA / Apis cerana / China / phylogeography

Corresponding author: debsmith@ku.edu

© INRA, DIB-AGIB, EDP Sciences 2007