Ostroverkhova N.V., Rosseykina S.A. 2023. Novel haplotypes of the COI-COII mtDNA region in the dark forest bee, Apis mellifera mellifera L., 1758 // Russian Entomol. J. Vol.32. No.4: 416–425 [in English].
National Research Tomsk State University, Institute of Biology, 36 Lenina Avenue, Tomsk 634050, Russia. E-mail: nvostrov@mail.ru, rosseykina75@mail.ru
doi: 10.15298/rusentj.32.4.08
ABSTRACT: An assessment of the genetic diversity of the COI-COII mtDNA locus in dark forest bee Apis mellifera mellifera L., 1758 in Siberia (Russia) was conducted. Two variants of the COI-COII mtDNA locus were registered: PQQ and PQQQ (allele frequencies 0.83 and 0.17, respectively). According to the Dra I COI-COII test, the haplotypes of PQQ and PQQQ variants identified in Siberian bees correspond to the most frequent European haplotypes M4 and M4′, but their nucleotide sequences are novel in A. m. mellifera. At the same time, a high similarity of the studied nucleotide sequences of the intergenic region COI-COII with the reference sequences (Genbank) described in dark forest bees living in Northern Europe (the Netherlands, United Kingdom, and Ireland) (99% identity) was established, which may indicate the significance of these mtDNA variants for adaptation to cold climatic conditions.
KEY WORDS: Apis mellifera mellifera, COI-COII mtDNA locus, diversity, adaptive evolution, Siberia.