Development of a multiplex microsatellite marker set for the study of the solitary red mason bee, Osmia bicornis (Megachilidae)

Abstract

Background Solitary bees, such as the red mason bee (Osmia bicornis), provide important ecosystem services including pollination. In the face of global declines of pollinator abundance, such haplodiploid Hymenopterans have a compounded extinction risk due to the potential for limited genetic diversity. In order to assess the genetic diversity of Osmia bicornis populations, we developed microsatellite markers and characterised them in two populations. Methods and results Microsatellite sequences were mined from the recently published Osmia bicornis genome, which was assembled from DNA extracted from a single male bee originating from the United Kingdom. Sequences were identified that contained dinucleotide, trinucleotide, and tetranucleotide repeat regions. Seventeen polymorphic microsatellite markers were designed and tested, sixteen of which were developed into four multiplex PCR sets to facilitate cheap, fast and efficient genotyping and were characterised in unrelated females from Germany (n = 19) and England (n = 14). Conclusions The microsatellite markers are highly informative, with a combined exclusion probability of 0.997 (first parent), which will enable studies of genetic structure and diversity to inform conservation efforts in this bee.

Novel microsatellite markers for Osmia lignaria (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae), a North American pollinator of agricultural crops and wildland plants

“…Microsatellites are a useful tool to rapidly acquire genetic information that informs conservation, breeding, and management decisions. They are especially informative for identifying population genetic structure among subpopulations and have the capacity to infer sibship relationships among individuals within a subpopulation (Koch, McCabe, Love, & Cox-Foster, 2021;Van Eeckhoven et al, 2022). While the front-end of microsatellite development can be expensive, using established microsatellites is a cost-effective method for population genetics studies relative to reduced representation genome sequencing on a per-specimen basis in the market today (Guichoux et al, 2011).…”

“…Microsatellite analyses have uncovered cryptic genetic diversity among different bee species (Koch, Rodriguez, Pitts, & Strange, 2018), and have been useful markers for correlating biological phenomena such as population declines and genotype-by-environment associations (Cameron et al, 2011;Koch, Vandame, et al, 2018;Pitts-Singer, Cane, & Trostle, 2014). Furthermore, microsatellite marker development is on the rise across agriculturally important solitary bee species (Neumann & Seidelmann, 2006;Strange et al, 2017;Van Eeckhoven et al, 2022). In this study, we expand microsatellite marker availability and utility in the solitary bee genus Osmia , with special focus on O. lignaria .…”

“…Our assessment on the utility of the novel microsatellites in otherOsmia species supports future population genetic studies of the genus. To date, microsatellite markers have been developed for O. bicornis (Neumann & Seidelmann, 2006;Van Eeckhoven et al, 2022), which is in the same clade (bicornis clade) as O. lignaria . The subgenusOsmia , especially the clade bicornis , possess a diversity of Osmia species that are important pollinators of crops including O. cornuta , O. cornifrons , and O. taurus (Branstetter et al, 2021;Osterman et al, 2021).…”

“…(Estoup, Scholl, Pouvreau, & Solignac, 1995;Reber Funk, Schmid-Hempel, & Schmid-Hempel, 2006;Stolle et al, 2009), mason bees (Osmiaspp.) (Neumann & Seidelmann, 2006;Van Eeckhoven et al, 2022), stingless bees (Melipona spp.) (Peters, Queller, Imperatriz Fonseca, & Strassmann, 1998), orchid bees (Euglossa spp.)…”