THE ORIGIN OF WEST EUROPEAN SUBSPECIES OF HONEYBEES

(APIS MELLIFERA) :

NEW INSIGHTS FROM MICROSATELLITE

AND MITOCHONDRIAL DATA

Pierre Franck^1,2, Lionel Garnery², Michel Solignac² and Jean-Marie Cornuet^1,2,3

1 Laboratoire Population, Génétique, Evolution, CNRS, Avenue de la Terrasse, 91198 Gif-sur-Yvette cedex, France
2 Laboratoire de Modélisation et de Biologie Evolutive, URLB-INRA, 488 rue Croix de Lavit, 34090 Montpellier, France.
3 Corresponding Author (E-mail: cornuet@ensam.inra.fr)

This document contains additionals informations concerning the following article :

Franck, P., Garnery L., Solignac M., Cornuet J. M., 1998
The origin of West European subspecies of honeybees (Apis mellifera) : new insights from mitodhondrial DNA and microsatellite data. Evolution 52(4):1119-1134

Abstract. Apis mellifera is composed of three evolutionary branches including mainly African (branch A), West and North European (branch M) and South-East European (branch C) populations. The existence of morphological clines extending from the equator to the polar circle through Morocco and Spain raised the hypothesis that the branch M originated in Africa. Mitochondrial DNA analysis revealed that branches A and M were characterized by highly diverged lineages implying very remote links between both branches. It also revealed that mtDNA haplotypes from lineages A coexisted with haplotypes M in the Iberian Peninsula and formed a South-North frequency cline, suggesting that this area could be a secondary contact zone between the two branches. Analyzing 11 populations sampled along a transect France - Spain/Portugal - Morocco - Guinea at 8 microsatellite loci and the DraI RFLP of the COI-COII mtDNA marker, we show that Iberian populations do not present any trace of "africanization" and are very similar to French populations when considering microsatellite markers. Therefore, the Iberian peninsula is not a transition area. The higher haplotype A variability observed in Spanish and Portuguese samples compared to that found in Africa is explained by a higher mutation rate and multiple and recent introductions. Selection appears as the best explanation to the morphological and allozymic clines and to the diffusion and maintenance of African haplotypes in Spain and Portugal.

Keywords: Microsatellite, mtDNA, SSR, population genetics, Apis mellifera, intergradation.

Coloured version of the Figure 7. Neighbor-joining tree of individual bees based on the shared allele distance. The tree was established with 328 workers typed for eight loci. Bees are noted according to their country of origin. Green corresponds to bees from Italy (Emily-Romagne) which have been chosen as outgroup. Blue corresponds to bees from France: Northern France, Vaucluse, and Atlantic Pyrenees. Cyan corresponds to bees from Portugal and Spain: Northern Portugal, Basque Country, Castile, and Andalucia. Red corresponds to bees from Morocco: Northern Rif, Southwest Rif, Southern Rif. Magenta corresponds to bees from Guinea. They are grouped in three main clusters corresponding to the evolutionary branches C, M and A.

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