The sex determination gene shows no founder effect in the giant honey bee, Apis dorsata.
BACKGROUND: All honey bee species (Apis spp) share the same sex determination mechanism using the complementary sex determination (csd) gene. Only individuals heterogeneous at the csd allele develop into females, and the homozygous develop into diploid males, which do not survive. The honeybees are...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2012-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3325241?pdf=render |
| _version_ | 1818945510837321728 |
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| author | Zhi Yong Liu Zi Long Wang Wei Yu Yan Xiao Bo Wu Zhi Jiang Zeng Zachary Y Huang |
| author_facet | Zhi Yong Liu Zi Long Wang Wei Yu Yan Xiao Bo Wu Zhi Jiang Zeng Zachary Y Huang |
| author_sort | Zhi Yong Liu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | BACKGROUND: All honey bee species (Apis spp) share the same sex determination mechanism using the complementary sex determination (csd) gene. Only individuals heterogeneous at the csd allele develop into females, and the homozygous develop into diploid males, which do not survive. The honeybees are therefore under selection pressure to generate new csd alleles. Previous studies have shown that the csd gene is under balancing selection. We hypothesize that due to the long separation from the mainland of Hainan Island, China, that the giant honey bees (Apis dorsata) should show a founder effect for the csd gene, with many different alleles clustered together, and these would be absent on the mainland. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We sampled A. dorsata workers from both Hainan and Guangxi Provinces and then cloned and sequenced region 3 of the csd gene and constructed phylogenetic trees. We failed to find any clustering of the csd alleles according to their geographical origin, i.e. the Hainan and Guangxi samples did not form separate clades. Further analysis by including previously published csd sequences also failed to show any clade-forming in both the Philippines and Malaysia. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Results from this study and those from previous studies did not support the expectations of a founder effect. We conclude that because of the extremely high mating frequency of A. dorsata queens, a founder effect does not apply in this species. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T08:00:16Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5e0cf27c94af48768b23413ef724c2cb |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T08:00:16Z |
| publishDate | 2012-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-5e0cf27c94af48768b23413ef724c2cb2022-12-21T19:47:32ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032012-01-0174e3443610.1371/journal.pone.0034436The sex determination gene shows no founder effect in the giant honey bee, Apis dorsata.Zhi Yong LiuZi Long WangWei Yu YanXiao Bo WuZhi Jiang ZengZachary Y HuangBACKGROUND: All honey bee species (Apis spp) share the same sex determination mechanism using the complementary sex determination (csd) gene. Only individuals heterogeneous at the csd allele develop into females, and the homozygous develop into diploid males, which do not survive. The honeybees are therefore under selection pressure to generate new csd alleles. Previous studies have shown that the csd gene is under balancing selection. We hypothesize that due to the long separation from the mainland of Hainan Island, China, that the giant honey bees (Apis dorsata) should show a founder effect for the csd gene, with many different alleles clustered together, and these would be absent on the mainland. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We sampled A. dorsata workers from both Hainan and Guangxi Provinces and then cloned and sequenced region 3 of the csd gene and constructed phylogenetic trees. We failed to find any clustering of the csd alleles according to their geographical origin, i.e. the Hainan and Guangxi samples did not form separate clades. Further analysis by including previously published csd sequences also failed to show any clade-forming in both the Philippines and Malaysia. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Results from this study and those from previous studies did not support the expectations of a founder effect. We conclude that because of the extremely high mating frequency of A. dorsata queens, a founder effect does not apply in this species.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3325241?pdf=render |
| spellingShingle | Zhi Yong Liu Zi Long Wang Wei Yu Yan Xiao Bo Wu Zhi Jiang Zeng Zachary Y Huang The sex determination gene shows no founder effect in the giant honey bee, Apis dorsata. PLoS ONE |
| title | The sex determination gene shows no founder effect in the giant honey bee, Apis dorsata. |
| title_full | The sex determination gene shows no founder effect in the giant honey bee, Apis dorsata. |
| title_fullStr | The sex determination gene shows no founder effect in the giant honey bee, Apis dorsata. |
| title_full_unstemmed | The sex determination gene shows no founder effect in the giant honey bee, Apis dorsata. |
| title_short | The sex determination gene shows no founder effect in the giant honey bee, Apis dorsata. |
| title_sort | sex determination gene shows no founder effect in the giant honey bee apis dorsata |
| url | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3325241?pdf=render |
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