Genetic divergence in Tetragonisca angustula Latreille, 1811 (Hymenoptera, Meliponinae, Trigonini) based on rapd markers

Abstract

One of the commonest neotropical stingless bees is Tetragonisca angustula (Latreille, 1811), popularly known in Portuguese as jataí, which occurs in variable nesting sites from Mexico to Argentina. We used 18 primers to generate 218 RAPD markers which we used to determined the genetic distance between T. angustula populations from 25 localities in three different Latin America countries, using Tetragonisca weyrauchi from the Brazilian state of Acre and the common honey bee (Apis mellifera) as outgroups. Genetic distance, calculated as the Percentage of Dissimilarity (14%), based on all markers divided the T. angustula population into eastern (group 1) and western (group 2) groups. However, we were able to separate the two groups by using only two primers that have generated five specific molecular markers. The eastern group consists of T. angustula angustula which occurs from Panama to the Brazilian states of Maranhão and northern Minas Gerais and has spread through the Brazilian Atlantic Forest as far as the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. Group 2 is made up of T. angustula fiebrigi which has a more southerly and western distribution, occurring only in the western Brazilian states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul as well as the west of some other Brazilian states (Goiás, Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Paraná and Santa Catarina) and northeastern Argentina.

Genetic divergence between populations of the stingless bee uruçu amarela (Melipona rufiventris group, Hymenoptera, Meliponini): is there a new Melipona species in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais?

“…Studies reporting on the detection of species-specific patterns that permit distinguishing closely related organisms using RAPD (Waldschmidt et al, 2000;Oliveira et al, 2004) or microsatellite markers (Estoup et al, 1995;Haavie et al, 2000;Dhuyvetter et al, 2004) are also well documented.…”

Mitochondrial DNA variability in populations of Centris aenea (Hymenoptera, Apidae), a crop-pollinating bee in Brazil

“…Relatively few genetic studies have investigated bee species within other genera, such as Plebeia remota (Francisco et al, 2001), Eufrisea violacea (Sofia et al, 2005), Macrotera portalis (Danforth et al, 2003), Tetragonisca angustula (Oliveira et al, 2004), Partamona helleri (Brito and Arias, 2010), Partamona seridoensis (Fernandes et al, 2012), Melipona subnitida (Cruz et al, 2006), and Euglossa fimbriata (Suzuki et al, 2010). Some of these studies have used PCR-RFLP (Francisco and Arias, 2010;Brito and Arias, 2010;Suzuki et al, 2010) revealing interesting information that has allowed researchers to distinguish populations.…”

Variabilidade genética em búfalos estimada por marcadores RAPD

“…Utilizando a mesma metodologia, Paiva (2001) avaliou efeitos de obstáculos naturais na estruturação de populações em espécies de peixes. Gimenez et al (2003) analisaram subespécies de suínos e seus híbridos, e Oliveira et al (2004) determinaram as distâncias genéticas entre populações de abelhas de 25 localidades, de três países da América Latina.…”