Genetic Relationship Of Apis Mellifera Populations And Molecular Markers Relating To Production Of Royal Jelly

Bees are important social insects that play an important role in ecosystems and pollinating crops.The royal jelly is one of the important products produced by Apis mellifera in China.Royal jelly is secreted from the hypopharyngeal glands and mandibular glands of nurse bees.It is a special kind of serum-like substance used to feed queen bees and larvae within 3 days.Royal jelly has health functions such as anti-oxidation,improving immunity,protecting liver and kidney,inhibiting bacteria and improving sleep quality,which play an improved effect on certain human sub-health.China is the largest producer of royal jelly in the world.In recent three decades,China has successfully cultivated high-yielding royal jelly bee breed of Apis mellifera.With molecular phylogenetic analysis and genomewide sequencing analysis,we conducted molecular basic research related to the trait of royal jelly production.On one hand,the genetic diversity of 240 bees from 10 different regions(including High-yielding and Low-yielding of royal jelly of honeybee)of China and Pakistan was studied using the cytochrome oxidase subunit(COI)gene.After screening the sequences,BioEdit software was used for the alignment,and the aligned sequences were run using MEGA-7 software,and the phylogenetic relationships among these populations were found by the neighboring method.On the other hand,genetic differences were calculated using the Kimura-2 parameter using MEGA7,and genetic diversity was calculated by the DnaSP v5 software.The phylogenetic tree results in all individuals divided into seven populations within these samples,with a total genetic differentiation of 3.88%,followed by 2.65%in Pakistan,and a minimum of 2.02%in China.Similarly,significant genetic diversity was observed in 23 mutations,and the Fs value of Fu was 0.019.Through Fu’s Fu and D tests,there are 17 mutations in Pakistan,the difference is very significant,while China has 10 mutations,and the difference is small.In addition,the calculation of the nucleotide mismatch distribution confirmed the genetic variability of all of our sequencing data.Therefore,the results reveal strong genetic interactions and significant genetic variation between seven populations of Apis mellifera from two different countries.These results may be more helpful in studying the genetic relationships of different populations of Apis mellifera in different ecological regions.There are significant differences between high-yielding and lowyielding populations of royal jelly production.The characteristics of worker bees producing royal jelly involve different factors,especially in terms of genetic genes,behaviors and environment.However,the molecular mechanism of royal jelly production is not fully understood.This research reports the determination of loci associated with royal jelly production trait by genome-wide sequencing from eight population samples in China and Pakistan.Each population sample consists of 120 worker individuals from 12 colonies.Candidate SNP gene sites were identified from genes that might regulate high-yield traits of royal jelly.In addition,the selected characteristics of eight different bee populations were jointly analysed,and the results provided evidence for the most recently selected features in genome among populations under different selection targets.GO annotation and KEGG pathway analysis indicate that the candidate genes are involved in a variety of biological processes and molecular functions,directly or indirectly affecting the production traits of royal jelly.The results can be used to better understanding the selected genomic features and to reveal relevant genomic regions containing genes that control honeybee production traits of royal jelly.