Genome-wide discovery and characterization of microsatellite markers from Melipona fasciculata (Hymenoptera: Apidae), cross-amplification and a snapshot assessment of the genetic diversity in two stingless bee populations

Microsatellite Marker Discovery in the Stingless Bee Uruçu-Amarela (Melipona rufiventris Group, Hymenoptera, Meliponini) for Population Genetic Analysis

“…Analysis of the whole data set (n = 50) revealed 63 alleles in all 16 loci, ranging from 2 (Mruf 6, 13, 19, 20, 21, 22) to 7 (Mruf 9) with a mean of 3.9 alleles/locus ( Table 2). This result corroborates previous findings on microsatellite development in closely related species, such as Melipona seminigra merrillae [19] (N A = 3.7), Melipona interrupta manaosensis [20] (N A = 2.8), Melipona mondury [21] (N A = 3.0), Melipona yucatanica [13] (N A = 2.6 to 3.6), and Melipona fasciculata [23] (N A = 3.9). Furthermore, these novel microsatellite loci were more polymorphic than the SSR markers developed from an earlier study by traditional cloning methods on the same species (N A = 2.6) [10].…”

“…Despite the fact that the low levels of genetic diversity might occur in social Hymenoptera compared to other insects [34], recent population reduction might also have contributed to this alarming scenario, reducing the genetic variability in these populations of the 'rufiventris group' [5,35]. Heterozygosity estimates were of similar magnitude when compared to those found for Melipona fasciculata [23], but were a little lower for M. subnitida [22]. From the 48 combinations (16 loci and 3 populations) of the overall samples, 10 significant deviations from HWE after sequential Bonferroni correction (p < 0.0031) were detected, mostly towards an excess of heterozygotes.…”

“…Cross-species amplification of microsatellite loci from primers developed from other species in the same genus (e.g., Melipona bicolor [18], M. seminigra merrillae [19], M. interrupta manaosensis [20], M. mondury [21], M. subnitida [22] and M. fasciculata [23]) might occur mostly due to the presence of conserved flanking sequences across closely related taxa. However, the use of heterologous microsatellite primers in a non-source species, where nonamplifying (null) alleles are expected, could substantially reduce genetic variability, and consequently, the resolving power of the marker [24].…”

“…Next generation sequencing has been recently used for the isolation and development of microsatellite loci in the Melipona species [22,23]. The technology has the advantage over traditional methods used for the discovery of SSR markers, as it generates large amounts of sequencing data and consequently large numbers of markers in a simpler and rapid approach, avoiding the construction of microsatellite-enriched DNA libraries, which is a time-consuming and laborious procedure [25].…”