Potential use of major royal jelly proteins (MRJPs) as molecular markers for royal jelly production in Africanized honeybee colonies

Abstract

-The present study determined the genetic variation at mrjps loci (mrjp3, mrjp5 and mrjp8) and evaluated the potential use of MRJPs as molecular markers for higher royal jelly production in Africanized honeybee colonies. The three analyzed loci produced a total of 17 alleles. This high allelic polymorphism indicated these loci could serve as genetic markers. The potential use of MRJPs as molecular markers for royal jelly production was evaluated by analyses of multiple linear regressions with EPD (expected progeny differences) values for royal jelly production. The variance analyses indicated that the mrjp3 repetitive region influenced the genetic value of queen's offspring for royal jelly production. The determination coefficient (R 2 ) for the significant alleles of the repetitive region of mrjp3 indicated that 36.85% of the EPD variation is explained by the variation of C, D and E alleles. Therefore, these three alleles present a considerable genetic effect on the variation of RJ production.Apis mellifera / MRJP-3 / genetic variability / polymorphism / EPD

MRJP microsatellite markers in Africanized Apis mellifera colonies selected on the basis of royal jelly production

“…The mrjp5 locus had 6 alleles, with sizes of 570 bp (A), 590 bp (B), 610 bp (C), 620 bp (D), 680 bp (E), and 720 bp (F). In the present study, we detected different allelic compositions of mrjp3 and mrjp5 compared to those observed by Baitala et al (2010). For instance, the A and B alleles of mrjp3 that were previously detected by Baitala et al (2010) were not found in the queens that were analyzed in the current study (Table 2).…”

“…In the present study, we detected different allelic compositions of mrjp3 and mrjp5 compared to those observed by Baitala et al (2010). For instance, the A and B alleles of mrjp3 that were previously detected by Baitala et al (2010) were not found in the queens that were analyzed in the current study (Table 2). At the mrjp5 locus, alleles D, E, and F were detected in this study, together with four new alleles, called H (650 bp), I (750 bp), J (780 bp), and K (800 bp).…”

“…Queen selection for royal jelly production has been kept in apiary at Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Brazil, since 2003 hence Baitala et al (2010) developed an initial study for selection of Africanized A. mellifera queens' royal jelly producers. After the period of 3 years, high degree of genetic variability was detected for MRJP loci analyzed, but it has decreased with the selection time.…”

<b>Performance of Africanized honeybee colonies settled by queens selected for different traits

“…Selection for honey production was performed by evaluation of morphometric characteristics and emergence weight of queens and hygienic behavior by assessing the removal of dead brood within 24h by worker honeybees in colonies daughters of mother queens (Costa-Maia et al, 2011;Wielewski et al, 2012). The other group was composed of daughters of queens selected for royal jelly production using molecular markers for expressing the protein MRJP3 (Baitala et al, 2010) with a tendency to homozygosity for this locus (Parpinelli, Ruvolo-Takasusuki & Toledo, 2014). In the experiment II, besides these groups, we also evaluated a local group of queens, which were chosen at random in the apiary and were not subjected to any breeding process.…”

“…Nevertheless, the genetic material selected in breeding programs should be assessed under field conditions to validate the effectiveness of selection and adaptation of the lineages (Baitala et al, 2010) in other regions. This analysis also allows a better understanding of the genotype-environment interactions, since there are only a few studies on these interactions with bees (Faquinello et al, 2011).…”