Instituto de Genética e Bioquímica, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Uberlândia, MG, Brazil. ; Departamento de Genética e Biologia Evolutiva, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
Genet Mol Biol. 2013 Mar;36(1):124-8. doi: 10.1590/S1415-47572013000100018. Epub 2013 Mar 4.
Partamona mulata is a stingless bee species endemic to cerrado, a severely threatened phytogeographical domain. Clearing for pasture without proper soil treatment in the cerrado facilitates the proliferation of termite ground nests, which are the nesting sites for P. mulata. The genetic consequences of these changes in the cerrado environment for bee populations are still understudied. In this work, we analyzed the genetic diversity of 48 colonies of P. mulata collected throughout the species' distribution range by sequencing two mitochondrial genes, cytochrome oxidase I and cytochrome B. A very low polymorphism rate was observed when compared to another Partamona species from the Atlantic forest. Exclusive haplotypes were observed in two of the five areas sampled. The sharing of two haplotypes between collection sites separated by a distance greater than the flight range of queens indicates an ancient distribution for these haplotypes. The low haplotype and nucleotide diversity observed here suggests that P. mulata is either a young species or one that has been through population bottlenecks. Locally predominant and exclusive haplotypes (H2 and H4) may have been derived from local remnants through cerrado deforestation and the expansion of a few colonies with abundant nesting sites.
马氏无刺蜂是一种生活在塞拉多（一个受到严重威胁的植物地理区域）的无刺蜂物种。在塞拉多开垦牧场时，如果不对土壤进行适当处理，会促进白蚁地面巢穴的繁殖，而马氏无刺蜂正是在这些巢穴中筑巢。这些塞拉多环境变化对蜂群的遗传影响仍在研究之中。在这项工作中，我们通过对两种线粒体基因（细胞色素氧化酶 I 和细胞色素 B）进行测序，分析了分布在整个物种分布范围内的 48 个马氏无刺蜂种群的遗传多样性。与来自大西洋森林的另一种无刺蜂物种相比，观察到的多态性率非常低。在五个采样区域中的两个区域观察到了独特的单倍型。两个采集地点之间共享两个单倍型，而这些地点之间的距离超过了蜂王的飞行范围，这表明这些单倍型具有古老的分布历史。这里观察到的低单倍型和核苷酸多样性表明，马氏无刺蜂要么是一个年轻的物种，要么是经历了种群瓶颈的物种。本地优势和独特的单倍型（H2 和 H4）可能是由塞拉多森林砍伐和少数拥有丰富巢穴的殖民地的扩张而从当地残余物中衍生出来的。
