Skip to main content
ARS Home » Southeast Area » Baton Rouge, Louisiana » Honey Bee Lab » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #338115
Title: An abbreviated SNP panel for ancestry assignment of honeybees (Apis mellifera)

Author
item CHAPMAN, NADINE - University Of Sydney
item Bilodeau, Lanie
item Beaman, Glenda
item LIM, JULIANNE - University Of Sydney
item HARPUR, BROCK - York University
item ZAYED, AMRO - York University
item ALLSOPP, MICHAEL - Plant Protection Institute - South Africa
item RINDERER, THOMAS - Former ARS Employee
item OLDROYD, BENJAMIN - University Of Sydney

Submitted to: Apidologie
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/23/2017
Publication Date: 6/27/2017
Citation: Chapman, N.C., Bourgeois, A.L., Beaman, G.D., Lim, J., Harpur, B.A., Zayed, A., Allsopp, M.H., Rinderer, T.E., Oldroyd, B.P. 2017. An abbreviated SNP panel for ancestry assignment of honeybees (Apis mellifera). Apidologie. doi:10.1007/s13592-017-0522-6.

Interpretive Summary: A genetic marker panel consisting of 95 markers was developed for identification of Africanized ancestry in honey bees. This paper examines whether a smaller panel of 37 markers has the same power as a larger and more expensive panel We selected 37 SNPs from the original panel. These 37 Ancestry-Informative Markers (AIMs) were combined so they could be run simultaneously. We find that ancestry assignment is comparable between the two panels, and that the smaller panel outperforms the previous panel. Importation of bee semen from countries like the United States (where Africanized bees are present) into countries like Australia (where Africanized bees are absent) will be facilitated if small proportions of semen derived from Africanized drones can be reliably detected. We used the smaller panel to determine if semen from a single Africanized drone could be detected when mixed with the semen of 10, 20 or 40 commercial (non-Africanized) drones. We found that a test for Africanization on a mixed sample would fail to detect the contribution of a single Africanized male. It is therefore important that the cadavers of the males contributing semen destined for export to a region where Africanized bees are absent be individually tested.

Technical Abstract: This paper examines whether an abbreviated panel of 37 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) has the same power as a larger and more expensive panel of 95 SNPs to assign ancestry of honeybees (Apis mellifera) to three ancestral lineages. We selected 37 SNPs from the original 95 SNP panel using allele frequencies, such that poorly performing SNPs were excluded. These 37 Ancestry-Informative Markers (AIMs) SNPs were combined into a single multiplex. We find that ancestry assignment is comparable between the two panels, and that the 37 SNP panel outperforms the 95 SNP panel in terms of the proportion of SNPs successfully typed per individual. Importation of bee semen from countries like the United States (where Africanized bees are present) into countries like Australia (where Africanized bees are absent) will be facilitated if small proportions of semen derived from Africanized drones can be reliably detected. We used the abbreviated panel to determine if semen from a single Africanized drone could be detected when mixed with the semen of 10, 20 or 40 commercial (non-Africanized) drones. We found that a test for Africanization on a mixed sample would fail to detect the contribution of a single Africanized male. It is therefore important that the cadavers of the males contributing semen destined for export to a region where Africanized bees are absent be individually tested.