Controlled reproduction in the honey bee (Apis mellifera) via artificial insemination

Gillard, Thomas L; Oldroyd, Benjamin P.

doi:10.1016/bs.aiip.2020.08.001

Cited by 5 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…When the queens were 5 days post eclosion we constrained them in an artificial insemination apparatus [37] without narcosis. We then glued a 5 mm piece of surgical tape (Micropore, 3M, Minnesota) over the sting chamber using nail varnish (figure 2) [36].…”

Section: Materials and Methods (A) Biological Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adaptive, caste-specific changes to recombination rates in a thelytokous honeybee population

et al. 2021

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The ability to clone oneself has clear benefits—no need for mate hunting or dilution of one's genome in offspring. It is therefore unsurprising that some populations of haplo-diploid social insects have evolved thelytokous parthenogenesis—the virgin birth of a female. But thelytokous parthenogenesis has a downside: the loss of heterozygosity (LoH) as a consequence of genetic recombination. LoH in haplo-diploid insects can be highly deleterious because female sex determination often relies on heterozygosity at sex-determining loci. The two female castes of the Cape honeybee, Apis mellifera capensis , differ in their mode of reproduction. While workers always reproduce thelytokously, queens always mate and reproduce sexually. For workers, it is important to reduce the frequency of recombination so as to not produce offspring that are homozygous. Here, we ask whether recombination rates differ between Cape workers and Cape queens that we experimentally manipulated to reproduce thelytokously. We tested our hypothesis that Cape workers have evolved mechanisms that restrain genetic recombination, whereas queens have no need for such mechanisms because they reproduce sexually. Using a combination of microsatellite genotyping and whole-genome sequencing we find that a reduction in recombination is confined to workers only.

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Section: Materials and Methods (A) Biological Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adaptive, caste-specific changes to recombination rates in a thelytokous honeybee population

et al. 2021

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“…Temporal isolation, another technique, involves controlling the timing of mating (Oxley et al 2010; Musin et al 2023). Artificial insemination is the most direct and controlled method, enabling total control over the genetic origin of the semen (Gillard & Oldroyd, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A SNP-based honey bee paternity assignment test for evaluating the effectiveness of mating stations and its application to the Ataun valley, Basque Country, Spain

Parejo,

Galartza,

Momeni

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Geographically isolated mating stations are deployed across Europe to facilitate controlled mating with selected drone-producing colonies. To assess the reliability of these stations, we developed a paternity assignment test using a custom Illumina genotyping chip with 6457 SNPs based on two metrics (number of mismatch alleles and kinship). The method demonstrated remarkable accuracy during validation with an independent dataset of known parent-offspring pairs, with an accuracy rate of 97.7%. We then applied the developed paternity assignment test to theApis mellifera iberiensismating station in the Ataun valley, Basque Country, Spain, in 2021. Drone-producing colonies in the valley were sampled and genotyped, as well as 156 worker offspring of queens mated at the station, and 56 drones collected in the drone congregation area. Out of the 156 worker samples, we could assign paternity of 120 (76.9%) to one of the drone-producing colonies in the valley, while 23.1% were of unknown patriline. Out of the 56 drones collected in the air, 52 (92.9%) were assigned to drone-producing colonies. We were also able to determine the colonies and apiaries that made the most significant contributions to the matings. This information aids in effective apiary management, including the selection of suitable mating station locations and the positioning of drone-producing colonies therein. Overall, our SNP-based paternity assignment test offers a valuable tool for evaluating mating station effectiveness across Europe, crucial for advancing breeding objectives in honey bee populations.

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“…In order to instrumentally inseminate a young queen, the queen is prevented from performing her mating flight. Typically one week after hatching, the virgin queen is taken and a total of 8−12 μl of semen from several drones is injected into her vaginal orifice [ 8 , 9 ]. Before and during the process, the queen is narcotized with CO 2 , which stimulates oviposition [ 7 , 9 , 24 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…First instrumental inseminations of honeybee queens were successfully performed in the early twentieth century [4][5][6]. Since then, insemination techniques have been greatly improved and turned into a practicable tool for honeybee breeding [7][8][9]. Nevertheless, in most parts of the world, the actual practice of instrumental insemination is still concentrated at research institutes and has only limited influence on commercial honeybee breeding [9][10][11].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since then, insemination techniques have been greatly improved and turned into a practicable tool for honeybee breeding [7][8][9]. Nevertheless, in most parts of the world, the actual practice of instrumental insemination is still concentrated at research institutes and has only limited influence on commercial honeybee breeding [9][10][11]. The small impact that instrumental insemination has had on practical breeding is juxtaposed by a host of scientific studies suggesting this form of mating control to constitute a viable breeding strategy [8,[11][12][13][14][15].…”

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Comparison of pooled semen insemination and single colony insemination as sustainable honeybee breeding strategies

Du,

Bernstein,

Hoppe

2024

R. Soc. Open Sci.

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Instrumental insemination of honeybees allows for two opposing breeding strategies. In single colony insemination (SCI), all drones to inseminate a queen are taken from one colony. In pooled semen insemination (PSI), sperm of many genetically diverse drones is mixed and queens are fertilized from the resulting drone pool. While SCI allows for maximum pedigree control, proponents of PSI claim to reduce inbreeding and maintain genetic variance. Using stochastic simulation studies, we compared genetic progress and inbreeding rates in small honeybee populations under SCI and PSI. Four different selection criteria were covered: estimated breeding values (EBV), phenotypes, true breeding values (TBV) and random selection. Under EBV-based truncation selection, SCI yielded 9.0% to 44.4% higher genetic gain than PSI, but had vastly increased inbreeding rates. Under phenotypical or TBV selection, the gap between SCI and PSI in terms of genetic progress narrowed. Throughout, PSI yielded lower inbreeding rates than SCI, but the differences were only substantial under EBV truncation selection. As a result, PSI did not appear as a viable breeding strategy owing to its incompatibility with modern methods of genetic evaluation. Instead, SCI is to be preferred but instead of strict truncation selection, strategies to avoid inbreeding need to be installed.

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Controlled reproduction in the honey bee (Apis mellifera) via artificial insemination

Cited by 5 publications

References 135 publications

Adaptive, caste-specific changes to recombination rates in a thelytokous honeybee population

Adaptive, caste-specific changes to recombination rates in a thelytokous honeybee population

A SNP-based honey bee paternity assignment test for evaluating the effectiveness of mating stations and its application to the Ataun valley, Basque Country, Spain

Comparison of pooled semen insemination and single colony insemination as sustainable honeybee breeding strategies

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