Biomics

The gene pool of the native population of the dark forest bee Apis mellifera mellifera is gradually being lost due to spontaneous introgressive hybridization with bees of the southern subspecies, which are imported into the forest and forest-steppe zones for commercial beekeeping. The aim of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness of preserving the gene pool of the dark forest bee A. m. mellifera in the biosphere reserve "Bashkir Urals" using genetic markers. It has been shown that the Q variant of the mtDNA of the COI-COII locus, which characterizes the southern subspecies of bees, occurs with an insignificant frequency in bee colonies on the territory of the Bashkir Urals Biosphere Reserve. The PQQ variant of the locus COI-COII mtDNA occurs with a high frequency in bees nesting in natural and artificial nest in tree trunks. The proportion of the Q mitotype is significantly higher in apiaries, as well as in natural and artificial nest in tree trunks in areas of the reserve without a strict protection regime. When using nine microsatellite loci, a tendency to an increase in allelic diversity in local populations with a higher occurrence of the Q mitotype was revealed. Based on the identified patterns, strategies are proposed to improve measures to preserve the gene pool of the population of the dark forest bee A. m. mellifera.

gene pool, honey bee, Apis m. mellifera, genetic markers, mitochondrial DNA, the biosphere reserve "Bashkir Urals"

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