Research On The Mating Frequency Of Queen Bee (Apis Cerana Cerana)

Owing to the typical social insect, colony is the basic unit for survival and development in honey bee. Apis cerana cerana is one of subspecies in Apis cerana Fabricius, and specially distributes in China. The queen mates with multiple drones, so the workers in colony have different paternal source. Research for the competition and cooperation of honey bee among the different subfamilies in colony is theoretical importance and is the basis to comprehend the social population struction and biological function of honey bee, thus, it is one of hotspots in the bee biology research.The multiple mating mode of queen has a profound impact for the genetic relationship of offspring and the genetic diversity of population. The mating frequency of queen is the only factor influencing the colony genetic structure. Nowdays, there is a lot of evidence that queen’s multiple mating has a significant adaptive advantage for production, information transfer, biological habit and even resistance in honeybee colony.In recent years, the mating frequency of queen is always one of the hot topics studying the characteristic of social behavior in the honey bee. On this basis, many methods are used for researching bee queen mating frequency, such as physical research methods and the molecular identification techniques. This article evaluates the Apis cerana cerana queen’s mating frequency using microsatellite DNA which is wide applicated in related research.In this paper, five microsatellite loci were used to identifying paternity. PCR amplified fragments were send to Sangon biological corporation to detect and analyzed the genotyped of the amplification products.The result showed that the paternal number of experimented Apis cerana cerana colonies was at least7,8,11,7,7,9respectively. the average paternal number was8.167(SD1.602).The mating number decides the genetic correlation coefficient of offspring in the colony. Knowing the genetic relationship of offspring in the colony is essential to understand the social evolution and kin selection. Using the formula g=0.25+0.5×(1/me) to calculate the correlation coefficient of offspring in the colony. me represents the effective mating number. From the formula, we could calculate that the correlation coefficient was from0.2955to0.3214. To avoid the colonial genotype fading away, choosing the appropriate breed conservation number is of great significance to the colonial survival and development. According to paternal number and correlation calculation, we could know that when the breed conservation number was lesser than23, the colony could decrease the loss of genotype and even delay the recession in the colony.In conclusion, This research supplements the knowledge about the mating frequency of queen bee in Apis cerana cerana, and is theoretic importance for related research and application.