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QTL-mapping of individual resistance against American foulbrood in haploid honeybee drone larvae (Apis mellifera)

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Abstract

American foulbrood (AFB) is a severe brood disease in honeybees. Since sustainable treatment is not available, selection of genetically resistant honeybee stock is highly desirable. Using a set of 291 heterozygous microsatellite markers in a bulk segregant analysis with subsequent finemapping of haploid drone offspring from a single honeybee queen, we identified one significant and three suggestive quantitative trait loci as well as one significant epistatic interaction influencing prepupal survival after AFB infection. While we were not able to verify specific genes responsible for tolerance, we suggest that developmental genes may have played an important role. The identified markers can be used as regions of interest in future mapping or expression studies. In order to use them for marker-assisted selection in breeding programmes for AFB-resistant honeybee stock, it will be required to evaluate these loci more extensively under variable experimental conditions.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We thank Petra Leibe and Denise Kleber for technical assistance in the lab, H. Michael G. Lattorff for help with the genomic database, Qiang Huang for advice with R/qtl and Eva Forsgren for providing the spore solution. This work was supported by the European Commission through the 6th framework collaborative Specific Targeted Research Project BEE SHOP (Bees in Europe and Sustainable Honey Production; EU contract number: FOOD-CT-2006-022568) and by the German Ministry for Education and Science (BMBF) through the FUGATO-plus project FUGAPIS (Functional genome analysis of disease resistance in honeybees, Apis mellifera; project number: 0315125A).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biology, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Hoher Weg 4, 06099, Halle (Saale), Germany

    Dieter Behrens & Robin F. A. Moritz

  2. Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, 20008, South Africa

    Robin F. A. Moritz

  3. RoBeeTech, USAMV, Cluj Napoca, Romania

    Robin F. A. Moritz

Authors
  1. Dieter Behrens
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  2. Robin F. A. Moritz
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Correspondence to Dieter Behrens.

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Manuscript editor: Yves Le Conte

Cartographie de loci à effets quantitatifs de la résistance individuelle contre la loque américaine chez des larves d’abeilles mâles haploïdes ( Apis mellifera )

Paenibacillus larvae / pathologie des invertébrés / résistance aux maladies / locus à effet quantitatif / microsatellites

QTL-Kartierung der individueller Resistenz gegen Amerikanische Faulbrut in haploiden Drohnenlarven der Honigbiene ( Apis mellifera )

Paenibacillus larvae / Invertebratenpathologie / Krankheitsresistenz / Loci quantitativer Eigenschaften / Mikrosatelliten

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Behrens, D., Moritz, R.F.A. QTL-mapping of individual resistance against American foulbrood in haploid honeybee drone larvae (Apis mellifera). Apidologie 45, 409–417 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13592-013-0255-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13592-013-0255-0

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