Intraspecific variation in the first internal transcribed spacer (ITS1) of the nuclear ribosomal DNA inMelipona subnitida(Hymenoptera, Apidae), an endemic stingless bee from northeastern Brazil

Abstract

-Melipona subnitida is endemic to northeastern Brazil where it has been exploited for the production of honey. In this work, partial sequences (about 600 bp) of the first internal transcribed spacer (ITS1) of the ribosomal DNA were obtained from M. subnitida specimens collected in thirteen localities in northeastern Brazil. All the sequences were deposited in GenBank (accession numbers DQ078726-DQ078738). The mean nucleotide divergence (excluding sites with insertions/deletions) in the ITS1 sequences was about 5%, ranging from 0 to 13%. However, when the sites with insertions/deletions were taken into account each sequence was unique, with nucleotide divergences varying from 1.1 to 18%. The intraspecific variation in the M. subnitida ITS1 is therefore greater than most of those previously published studies comprising a wide range of organisms. This high variation is taken as an evidence of isolated populations evolving individually for a long period of time. This information is also of importance for the development of appropriate conservation strategies for this species.Melipona subnitida / stingless bee / nuclear ribosomal DNA / ITS/5.8S region / genetic variability

Intraspecific variation in the stingless beeMelipona beecheiiassessed with PCR-RFLP of the ITS1 ribosomal DNA

“…1670 so, excluding the flanking conserved regions of the 18S and 5.8S genes, the total size of the complete ITS1 region was about 1520 bp in the Mexican and northern Guatemala specimens, 1469 in those from southern Guatemala, El Salvador and Costa Rica and 1457 in the specimens from San Marcos (Guatemala). The size is within the range observed in other species (Cruz et al, 2006). Within the Hymenoptera, larger sizes as those reported here have been also found in the egg parasitoids of the genus Trichogramma (1300-1350 bp, Sappal et al, 1995).…”

“…Due to the long size of this region (around 1400 bp), a shorter fragment (400-500 bp) was PCR-amplified in eight Melipona species and its phylogenetic utility was confirmed. The usefulness of the ITS1 region has been also determined for intraspecific studies in the Brazilian species M. subnitida (Cruz et al, 2006). In that work, partial 3' sequences of the ITS1 region (654 bp) of samples from 13 locations of the Northeast of Brazil were sequenced.…”

New molecular evidence for fragmentation between two distant populations of the threatened stingless bee Melipona subnitida Ducke (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Meliponini)

“…Both studies were conducted within the State of Minas Gerais (Brazil). However, no correlation was found between the first internal transcribed spacer (ITS1) sequence divergence of M. subnitida populations and geographical distances in northeastern Brazil, which might be explained by the extremely high mutation rates of the ITS region in M. subnitida (Cruz et al 2006).…”

Phylogeography and historical demography of the neotropical stingless beeMelipona quadrifasciata(Hymenoptera, Apidae): incongruence between morphology and mitochondrial DNA

“…Some molecular population genetics studies have been conducted with bees (Tanaka et al, 2001;Soucy and Danforth, 2002;Dick et al, 2004;Cruz et al, 2006;Quezada-Euán et al, 2007;Kraus et al, 2008). However, none of the studies have applied coalescent and more recent phylogeographic methods.…”