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Review of the DraI COI-COII test for the conservation of the black honeybee (Apis mellifera mellifera)

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Abstract

The black honeybee (Apis mellifera mellifera; M lineage) which is affected by widespread colony losses, colony introgression and population shifts within its natural range of distribution, needs proper protection and management planning. The DraI COI-COII test discriminates between and within honeybee lineages (M, C, A and O). With this test, a global assessment of the diversity found in the M lineage (i.e. description of haplotype frequencies, fragment length and size, nucleotide sequences) is made with colonies newly sampled in France and Belgium (n = 3,261 colonies) and previously described in the literature (n = 3,367). A total of 91 M haplotypes were described including 52 new ones. The haplotypes M4 and M4’ were the most frequent followed by M17, M7, M6, M19, M8, M17’ and by many rare ones. Finally, these data were used to infer hypotheses on the putative origin of the M haplotypic diversity and to determine a protocol for the establishment of protected areas of black honeybee colonies. This protocol is based on the DraI COI-COII test and on case-studies of protected areas of black honeybees from France.

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Acknowledgments

This study was financed by the European Commission (CE no. 1,221/97). We are grateful to the national and regional beekeeping associations which collaborated to the sampling of the honeybees in France and Belgium.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Emerging Risks Unit, European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), Largo N. Palli 5/A, 43100, Parma, Italy

    Agnès Rortais

  2. Laboratoire Evolution, Génomes & Spéciation LEGS, UPR9034, 91190, CNRS, France

    Gérard Arnold, Mohamed Alburaki, Hélène Legout & Lionel Garnery

  3. Faculté des Sciences d’Orsay, Université Paris-Sud 11, IFR 115, 91405, Orsay, France

    Gérard Arnold & Hélène Legout

  4. Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, 45 ave. des Etats-Unis, 78035, Versailles, France

    Lionel Garnery

Authors
  1. Agnès Rortais
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  2. Gérard Arnold
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  3. Mohamed Alburaki
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  4. Hélène Legout
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  5. Lionel Garnery
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Correspondence to Agnès Rortais.

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Rortais, A., Arnold, G., Alburaki, M. et al. Review of the DraI COI-COII test for the conservation of the black honeybee (Apis mellifera mellifera). Conservation Genet Resour 3, 383–391 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12686-010-9351-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12686-010-9351-x

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