Rodríguez Alan, Baena-Díaz Fernanda, Maldonado-Sánchez Denisse, Macías-Ordóñez Rogelio, Gutiérrez-Rodríguez Carla
Instituto de Ecología, A.C. Red de Biología Evolutiva, Xalapa, Veracruz, México.
Instituto de Ecología, A.C. Red de Ecoetología, Xalapa, Veracruz, México.
Neotrop Entomol. 2024 Dec 6;54(1):4. doi: 10.1007/s13744-024-01213-x.
Genetic diversity is an important attribute of populations, essential for understanding the ecological and evolutionary processes affecting them and assessing their health status. In Hymenoptera, such as eusocial bees, colony management can influence genetic diversity in both natural and managed populations. Management can impact admixture, increasing the number of alleles due to colony displacement and decreasing the number of alleles in natural populations due to colony extraction. In this study, we analyzed genetic diversity in natural and managed colonies as well as in drone congregations of Scaptotrigona mexicana (Guérin), to assess genetic diversity, patterns of genetic structure and gene flow, and the presence of diploid males. We identified three distinct genetic groups: Northern, Central, and Southern. Although genetic differentiation and limited gene flow among genetic groups were evident, we detected significant gene flow from wild to managed populations, suggesting that natural populations can be an important reservoir of genetic diversity. The highest genetic diversity was found in the Northern group, composed of managed localities. This is likely due to the introduction of new alleles through to colony translocation. Notably, some loci exhibited more than three alleles in localities where all analyzed individuals were from the same colony, indicating possible polyandry in the species. We also detected diploid males, which suggests inbreeding and/or inefficient mechanisms for their elimination from the colony. Our results provide an initial assessment of genetic diversity in both natural and managed populations, as well as in drone congregations of S. mexicana.
遗传多样性是种群的一个重要属性，对于理解影响它们的生态和进化过程以及评估它们的健康状况至关重要。在膜翅目昆虫中，如社会性蜜蜂，蜂群管理会影响自然种群和人工管理种群的遗传多样性。管理措施会影响基因混合，因蜂群迁移导致等位基因数量增加，而因蜂群迁出导致自然种群中等位基因数量减少。在本研究中，我们分析了墨西哥无刺蜂（Scaptotrigona mexicana (Guérin)）自然蜂群和人工管理蜂群以及雄蜂聚集区的遗传多样性，以评估遗传多样性、遗传结构模式和基因流，以及二倍体雄蜂的存在情况。我们识别出三个不同的遗传组：北部组、中部组和南部组。尽管遗传组之间存在明显的遗传分化和有限的基因流，但我们检测到从野生种群到人工管理种群有显著的基因流，这表明自然种群可能是遗传多样性的重要储存库。遗传多样性最高的是由人工管理地区组成的北部组。这可能是由于通过蜂群迁移引入了新的等位基因。值得注意的是，在所有分析个体都来自同一蜂群的地区，一些位点显示出超过三个等位基因，这表明该物种可能存在多雄交配现象。我们还检测到了二倍体雄蜂，这表明存在近亲繁殖和/或从蜂群中消除它们的低效机制。我们的结果为墨西哥无刺蜂自然种群和人工管理种群以及雄蜂聚集区的遗传多样性提供了初步评估。
