Since the mtDNA COI-COII
intergenic region of A. mellifera exhibits
a high degree of genetic variability within
and among A. mellifera lineages, it is
useful for detecting unique mitotypes.

In this study, a 571-572 bp region of the mitochondrial
DNA (mtDNA) cytochrome oxidase I and II (COI-COII) genes was sequenced from 140 colonies
from 14 queen breeders in the United States. DNA sequence analysis revealed seven different
mitotypes (C1, C2, C11, C12, C19, C27, C31) from 14 queen breeders in 11 states. The most
common mitotypes were C1, C2 and C11 which accounted for 82% of the observed mitotypes.

Genetic variation studies conducted on
honey bees in their refugial regions by
sequencing the mtDNA COI-COII genes
revealed the C1 mitotype in Italy (Franck
et al., 2000), the Czech Republic and
Austria (Susnik et al., 2004). Mitotype
C2 was observed in Croatia (Franck et
al., 2000; Sušnik et al., 2004), Slovenia,
Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, and Greece.

Mitotypes C1 and C2 accounted
for 95% of the 675 colonies sampled from
45 queen breeders by Delaney et al. (2009)
using Dra I PCR-RFLP of the COI-COII
marker. Based on our data these two Dra I
mitotypes could actually represent at least
seven different mitotypes using DNA
sequencing analysis.

MITOCHONDRIAL DNA DIVERSITY OF HONEY BEES, APIS MELLIFERA L. (HYMENOPTERA: APIDAE) FROM QUEEN BREEDERS IN THE UNITED STATES Roxane M. Magnus, Amber D. Tripodi, Allen L. Szalanski

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