Study of the genetic diversity of Iranian honey bee (Apis mellifera meda Skorikow, 1829) populations using the mtDNA COI–COII intergenic region

Abstract

Determining the  genetic diversity amongst the  populations of honey bee is one of the  essential and important aims in race breeding of this useful insect. In the present study, the genetic diversity of the intergenic region COI–COII of mtDNA of the honey bee populations in the South of Iran has been studied. We used the  PCR-RFLP technique, and 60 worker honey bees were collected from 6 provinces (Sistan and Baluchestan, Kerman, Fars, Hormozgan, Bushehr and Khuzestan) of Iran. Their DNA were extracted using a salting out method. To do PCR, 25 microliters of one pair of primers plus mtDNA were used. To ascertain the results of PCR, the PCR products were electrophoresed using 1.5% Agarose Gel. Thereafter, the DraI restriction enzyme was used for enzymatic digestion of the PCR product. The result of this digestion was to produce 4 diverse pieces (44, 55, 64 and 430 bp) of enzymatic restriction fragment patterns. The results obtained from this study showed that using DraI restriction enzyme digestion, the honey bee populations in the South of Iran belonged to the C mtDNA lineage (this honey bee race group consists of Central Mediterranean and South East European honey bee populations). Another result obtained from this study indicated the absence of genetic diversity between the  samples collected from the  South of Iran.