Allele frequencies of genetic variants associated with varroa drone brood resistance (DBR) in Apis mellifera subspecies across the European continent

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Lefebre, R, De Smet, L, Tehel, A, Paxton, RJ, Bossuyt, E, Verbeke, W, van Dooremalen, C, Ulgezen, ZN, van den Bosch, T, Schaafsma, F, Valkenburg, D-J, Dall’Olio, R, Alaux, C, Dezmirean, DS, Giurgiu, AI, Capela, N, Simões, S, Sousa, JP, Bencsik, M ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6278-0378, McVeigh, A, Ramsey, MT, Ahmad, S, Kumar, T, Schäfer, MO, Beaurepaire, AL, Moro, A, Flener, CJ, Matthijs, S and de Graaf, DC, 2024. Allele frequencies of genetic variants associated with varroa drone brood resistance (DBR) in Apis mellifera subspecies across the European continent. Insects, 15 (6): 419. ISSN 2075-4450

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.3390/insects15060419

Abstract

Implementation of marker-assisted selection (MAS) in modern beekeeping would improve sustainability, especially in breeding programs aiming for resilience against the parasitic mite Varroa destructor. Selecting honey bee colonies for natural resistance traits, such as brood-intrinsic suppression of varroa mite reproduction, reduces the use of chemical acaricides while respecting local adaptation. In 2019, eight genomic variants associated with varroa non-reproduction in drone brood were discovered in a single colony from the Amsterdam Water Dune population in the Netherlands. Recently, a new study tested the applicability of these eight genetic variants for the same phenotype on a population-wide scale in Flanders, Belgium. As the properties of some variants varied between the two studies, one hypothesized that the difference in genetic ancestry of the sampled colonies may underly these contribution shifts. In order to frame this, we determined the allele frequencies of the eight genetic variants in more than 360 Apis mellifera colonies across the European continent and found that variant type allele frequencies of these variants are primarily related to the A. mellifera subspecies or phylogenetic honey bee lineage. Our results confirm that population-specific genetic markers should always be evaluated in a new population prior to using them in MAS programs.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Insects
Creators:	Lefebre, R., De Smet, L., Tehel, A., Paxton, R.J., Bossuyt, E., Verbeke, W., van Dooremalen, C., Ulgezen, Z.N., van den Bosch, T., Schaafsma, F., Valkenburg, D.-J., Dall’Olio, R., Alaux, C., Dezmirean, D.S., Giurgiu, A.I., Capela, N., Simões, S., Sousa, J.P., Bencsik, M., McVeigh, A., Ramsey, M.T., Ahmad, S., Kumar, T., Schäfer, M.O., Beaurepaire, A.L., Moro, A., Flener, C.J., Matthijs, S. and de Graaf, D.C.
Publisher:	MDPI AG
Date:	June 2024
Volume:	15
Number:	6
ISSN:	2075-4450
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.3390/insects15060419 DOI 2411307 Other
Rights:	© 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Divisions:	Schools > School of Science and Technology
Record created by:	Melissa Cornwell
Date Added:	26 Mar 2025 09:06
Last Modified:	26 Mar 2025 09:06
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/53301