scholarly journals Genetic diversity among queen bee, worker bees and larvae in terms of retrotransposon movements

Author(s):  
Levent Mercan ◽  
Cihat Erdem Bulbul ◽  
Sevgi Marakli

Abstract Objective Honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) is a model organism, contributing significant effect on global ecology by pollination and examining due to its social behaviour. Methods In this study, barley-specific Sukkula and Nikita retrotransposons were analysed using IRAP (Inter-Retrotransposon Amplification Polymorphism) marker technique, and the relationships between retrotransposon movements and development were also investigated in three different colonies of the Caucasian bee (Apis mellifera caucasica). Furthermore, transposon sequences belonging to Apis mellifera, Bombus terrestris, Triticum turgidum and Hordeum vulgare were also examined to figure out evolutionary relationships. Results For this purpose, a queen bee, five worker bees, and five larvae from each colony were studied. Both retrotransposons were found in all samples in three colonies with different polymorphism ratios (0-100% for Nikita and 0-67% for Sukkula). We also determined polymorphisms in queen-worker (0-83% for Nikita, 0-63% for Sukkula), queen-larvae (0-83% for Nikita, 0-43% for Sukkula) and worker-larvae comparisons (0-100% for Nikita, 0-63% for Sukkula) in colonies. Moreover, close relationships among transposons found in plant and insect genomes as a result of in silico evaluations to verify experimental results. Conclusion This work could be one of the first studies to analyse plant-specific retrotransposons’ movements in honeybee genome. Results are expected to understand evolutionary relationships in terms of horizontal transfer of transposons among kingdoms.

2016 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-128
Author(s):  
Georgios Goras ◽  
Chrysoula Tananaki ◽  
Sofia Gounari ◽  
Elissavet Lazaridou ◽  
Dimitrios Kanelis ◽  
...  

Abstract We investigated the rearing of drone larvae grafted in queen cells. From the 1200 drone larvae that were grafted during spring and autumn, 875 were accepted (72.9%) and reared as queens. Drone larvae in false queen cells received royal jelly of the same composition and of the same amounts as queen larvae. Workers capped the queen cells as if they were drones, 9-10 days after the egg laying. Out of 60 accepted false queen cells, 21 (35%) were capped. The shape of false queen cells with drone larvae is unusually long with a characteristically elongate tip which is probably due to the falling of larvae. Bees start the destruction of the cells when the larvae were 3 days old and maximised it before and after capping. Protecting false queen cells in the colony by wrapping, reversing them upside down, or placing in a horizontal position, did not help. The only adult drones that emerged from the false queen cells were those protected in an incubator and in push-in cages. Adult drones from false queen cells had smaller wings, legs, and proboscis than regular drones. The results of this study verify previous reports that the bees do not recognise the different sex of the larvae at least at the early stage of larval development. The late destruction of false queen cells, the similarity in quality and quantity of the produced royal jelly, and the bigger drone cells, allow for the use of drone larvae in cups for the production of royal jelly.


2019 ◽  
pp. 103-115
Author(s):  
Jean-Marie Cornuet ◽  
Lionel Garnery

2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-232
Author(s):  
Dylan Cleary ◽  
Allen L. Szalanski ◽  
Clinton Trammel ◽  
Mary-Kate Williams ◽  
Amber Tripodi ◽  
...  

Abstract A study was conducted on the mitochondrial DNA genetic diversity of feral colonies and swarms of Apis mellifera from ten counties in Utah by sequencing the intergenic region of the cytochrome oxidase (COI-COII) gene region. A total of 20 haplotypes were found from 174 honey bee colony samples collected from 2008 to 2017. Samples belonged to the A (African) (48%); C (Eastern Europe) (43%); M (Western Europe) (4%); and O (Oriental) lineages (5%). Ten African A lineage haplotypes were observed with two unique to Utah among A lineage haplotypes recorded in the US. Haplotypes belonging to the A lineage were observed from six Utah counties located in the southern portion of the State, from elevations as high as 1357 m. All five C lineage haplotypes that were found have been observed from queen breeders in the US. Three haplotypes of the M lineage (n=7) and two of the O lineage (n=9) were also observed. This study provides evidence that honey bees of African descent are both common and diverse in wild populations of honey bees in southern Utah. The high levels of genetic diversity of A lineage honey bee colonies in Utah provide evidence that the lineage may have been established in Utah before the introduction of A lineage honey bees from Brazil to Texas in 1990.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (8) ◽  
pp. e0009665
Author(s):  
Shuai Xu ◽  
Zhenpeng Li ◽  
Yuanming Huang ◽  
Lichao Han ◽  
Yanlin Che ◽  
...  

Nocardia is a complex and diverse genus of aerobic actinomycetes that cause complex clinical presentations, which are difficult to diagnose due to being misunderstood. To date, the genetic diversity, evolution, and taxonomic structure of the genus Nocardia are still unclear. In this study, we investigated the pan-genome of 86 Nocardia type strains to clarify their genetic diversity. Our study revealed an open pan-genome for Nocardia containing 265,836 gene families, with about 99.7% of the pan-genome being variable. Horizontal gene transfer appears to have been an important evolutionary driver of genetic diversity shaping the Nocardia genome and may have caused historical taxonomic confusion from other taxa (primarily Rhodococcus, Skermania, Aldersonia, and Mycobacterium). Based on single-copy gene families, we established a high-accuracy phylogenomic approach for Nocardia using 229 genome sequences. Furthermore, we found 28 potentially new species and reclassified 16 strains. Finally, by comparing the topology between a phylogenomic tree and 384 phylogenetic trees (from 384 single-copy genes from the core genome), we identified a novel locus for inferring the phylogeny of this genus. The dapb1 gene, which encodes dipeptidyl aminopeptidase BI, was far superior to commonly used markers for Nocardia and yielded a topology almost identical to that of genome-based phylogeny. In conclusion, the present study provides insights into the genetic diversity, contributes a robust framework for the taxonomic classification, and elucidates the evolutionary relationships of Nocardia. This framework should facilitate the development of rapid tests for the species identification of highly variable species and has given new insight into the behavior of this genus.


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