Eur. J. Entomol. 105 (1): 41-44, 2008 | DOI: 10.14411/eje.2008.005

Origin of Jordanian honeybees Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera: Apidae) using amplified mitochondrial DNA

Shahera ZAITOUN, Dhia S. HASSAWI*, Wesam SHAHROUR
Al-Balqa Applied University, Faculty of Agricultural Technology, Al-Salt 19117, Jordan; e-mail: dhassawi@yahoo.com

The honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) has a large number of geographic subspecies distributed across Europe, Africa and Asia, many of which have been described. This identification is important for bee breeding and preserving honeybee biodiversity. To investigate the origin of Jordanian honeybees, 32 samples collected from different locations in Jordan were analyzed using four different enzyme systems: Bg/II site in cytochrome oxidase b (Cytb), EcoRI site in large ribosomal (lsRNA) subunit, XbaI site in cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) subunit and HinCII site in cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) subunit. The first three enzymes were found to be polymorphic. The DNA banding pattern analyses revealed that Jordanian honeybees belong to the East Mediterranean and Middle Eastern mitochondrial lineages.

Keywords: Apidae, apiculture, honeybee, geographic subspecies, mitochondrial lineages, mtDNA

Received: April 11, 2007; Revised: August 14, 2007; Accepted: August 14, 2007; Published: February 15, 2008  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago Chicago Notes IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
ZAITOUN, S., HASSAWI, D.S., & SHAHROUR, W. (2008). Origin of Jordanian honeybees Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera: Apidae) using amplified mitochondrial DNA. EJE, 105(1), 41-44. doi: 10.14411/eje.2008.005
Share...
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article

    References

    1. AGRICULTURAL STATISTICAL YEAR REPORT 2005: Ministry of Agriculture, Jordan, Amman
    2. ANTIA M.C., WALTER S.S. & HACHIRO S. 2000: A scientific note on the identification of honeybee semen using a mitochondrial DNA marker. Apidologie 31: 595-596. Go to original source...
    3. ARIAS M.C. & SHEPPARD W.S. 1996: Molecular phylogenetics of honeybee subspecies (Apis mellifera L.) inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequences. Mol. Phyl. Evol. 5: 557-566 Go to original source...
    4. BEHURA S.K. 2006: Molecular marker systems in insects: current trends and future avenues. Mol. Ecol. 15: 3087-3113 Go to original source...
    5. CORNUET J.M. & FRESNAYE J. 1989: Biometrical study of honeybee populations from Spain and Portugal. Apidologie 20: 93-101 Go to original source...
    6. CORNUET J.M. & GARNERY L. 1991: Mitochondrial DNA variability in honeybees and its phylogeographic implications. Apidologie 22: 627-642 Go to original source...
    7. CORNUET J.M., DAOUDI A., MOHSSINE H. & FRESNAYE J. 1988: Etude biometrique de populations d'abeilles Marocaines. Apidologie 19: 355-366 Go to original source...
    8. CREWE R.M., HEPBURN H.R. & MORITZ R.F.A. 1994: Morphometric analysis of 2 southern African races of honeybee. Apidologie 25: 61-70 Go to original source...
    9. CROZIER R.H., CROZIER Y.C. & MACKINLAY A.G. 1989: The CO-I and CO-II region of honeybee mitochondrial DNA: evidence for variation in insect mitochondrial evolutionary rates. Mol. Biol. Evol. 6: 399-411
    10. CROZIER Y.C., KOULIANOS S. & CROZIER R.H. 1991: An improved test for Africanized honeybee mitochondrial DNA. Experientia 47: 968-969 Go to original source...
    11. DE LA RUA P., GALIAN J. & SERRANO J. 2001: Molecular characterization and population structure of the honeybees from the Balearic Islands (Spain). Apidologie 32: 417-427 Go to original source...
    12. ENGEL M.S. 1999: The taxonomy of recent and fossil honey bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae; Apis). J. Hym. Res. 82: 165-196
    13. FRANCK P., GARNERY L., SOLIGNAC M. & CORNUET J.M. 2000: Molecular confirmation of a fourth lineage in honeybees from the Near East. Apidologie 31: 167-180 Go to original source...
    14. FRANCK P., GARNERY L., LOISEAU A., OLDROYD B.P., HEPBURN H.R., SOLIGNAC M. & CORNUET J.M. 2001: Genetic diversity of the honeybee in Africa: microsatellite and mitochondrial data. Heredity 86: 420-430 Go to original source...
    15. GARNERY L., CORNUET J.M. & SOLIGNAC M. 1992: Evolutionary history of the honeybee Apis mellifera inferred from mitochondrial DNA analysis. Mol. Ecol. 1: 145-154 Go to original source...
    16. GARNERY L., SOLIGNAC M., CELEBRANO G. & CORNUET J.M. 1993: A simple test using restricted PCR-amplified mitochondrial DNA to study the genetic structure of Apis mellifera L. Experientia 49: 1016-1021 Go to original source...
    17. HALL H.G. 1986: DNA Differences found between Africanized and European honeybees. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 83: 4874-4877 Go to original source...
    18. HALL H.G. & MURALIDHARAN K. 1989: Evidence from mitochondrial DNA that African honeybees spread as continuous material lineages. Nature 339: 211-213 Go to original source...
    19. HALL H.G. & SMITH D.R. 1991: Distinguishing African and European honeybee matrilines using amplified mitochondrial DNA. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 88: 4548-4552 Go to original source...
    20. MEIXNER M.D., ARIAS M.C. & SHEPPARD W.S. 2000: Mitochondrial DNA polymorphisms in honey bee subspecies from Kenya. Apidologie 31: 181-190 Go to original source...
    21. MORITZ R.F.A., CORNUET J.M., KRYGER P., GARNERY L. & HEPBURN H.R. 1994: Mitochondrial DNA variability in South African honeybees (Apis mellifera L.). Apidologie 25: 169-178 Go to original source...
    22. PALMER M.R., SMITH D.R. & KAFTANODhLU O. 2000: Turkish honeybees: genetic variation and evidence for a fourth lineage of Apis mellifera mtDNA. J. Heredity 91: 42-46 Go to original source...
    23. RUTTNER F. 1988: Biogeography and Taxonomy of Honeybees. Springer, Berlin, 284 pp Go to original source...
    24. RUTTNER F. 1992: Naturgeschichte der Honigbienen. Ehrenwirth, Muenchen, 357 pp
    25. RUTTNER F., TASSENCOURT L. & LOUVEAUX J. 1978: Biometricalstatistical analysis of the geographic variability of Apis mellifera L. Apidologie 9: 363-381 Go to original source...
    26. SHEPPARD W.S., RINDERER T.E. MEIXNER M.D., YOO H.R., STELZER J.A., SCHIFF N.M., KAMEL S.M. & KRELL R. 1996: HinfI variation in mitochondrial DNA of Old World honeybee subspecies. J. Heredity 87: 35-40 Go to original source...
    27. SHEPPARD W.S., ARIAS M.C., GRECH A. & MEIXNER M.D. 1997: Apis mellifera ruttneri, a new honey bee subspecies from Malta. Apidologie 28: 287-293 Go to original source...
    28. SMITH D.R. 1988: Mitochondrial DNA polymorphism in five Old World subspecies of honey bees in New World hybrids. In Needham G.R., Page R.E.Jr., Delfinado-Baker M. & Bowman C. (eds): Africanized Honey Bees and Bee Mites. Ellis Horwood, Chichester, UK, pp. 303-312
    29. SMITH D.R. 1991a: African bees in the Americas: Insights from biogeography and genetics. Trends Ecol. Evol. 6: 17-21 Go to original source...
    30. SMITH D.R. 1991b: Mitochondrial DNA and honey bee biogeography. In Smith D.R. (ed.): Diversity in the Genus Apis. West view Press and IBH Publ., Oxford. pp. 131-176 Go to original source...
    31. SMITH D.R. & BROWN W.M. 1988: Mitochondrial DNA restriction site polymorphism in American and Africanized honey bees (Apis mellifera). Experientia 44: 257-260 Go to original source...
    32. SMITH D.R. & BROWN W.M. 1990: Restriction endonuclease cleavage site and length polymorphisms in mitochondrial DNA of Apis mellifera and A. m. carnica (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am. 83: 81-87 Go to original source...
    33. SMITH D.R., BROWN W.M. & TAYLOR O.R.JR. 1989: Neotropical Africanized bees have African mitochondrial DNA. Nature 339: 213-215 Go to original source...
    34. SMITH D.R., PALOPOLI M.F., TAYLOR B.R., GARNERY L., CORNUET J.M., SOLIGNAC M. & BROWN W.M. 1991: Geographic overlap of two mitochondrial genomes in Spanish honeybees (Apis mellifera iberica). J. Heredity 82: 96-100 Go to original source...
    35. SMITH D.R., SLAYMAKER A., PALMER M. & KAFTANOLGU O. 1997: Turkish honeybees belong to the east Mediterranean mitochondrial lineage. Apidologie 28: 269-274 Go to original source...
    36. THE HONEY BEE GENOME SEQUENCING CONSORTIUM 2006: Insights into social insects from the genome of the honeybee Apis mellifera. Nature 443: 931-949 Go to original source...
    37. VLASAK I., BURGSCHWAIGER S. & KREIL G. 1987: Nucleotide sequence of the large ribosomal RNA of honeybee mitochondria. Nucl. Acids Res. 15: 2388 Go to original source...
    38. ZAITOUN S.T. 2000: Population dynamics of the Syrian Honeybee, Apis mellifera syriaca, under semi-arid Mediterranean conditions. The Seventh IBRA Conference on Tropical Bees: Management and Diversity. 19-26 March 2000. Chiang Mai, Thailand, pp. 319-321

    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


    Return to the content