RESEARCH ON RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VENOM LIBERATING ABILITY OF SOME APIS MELLIFERA RACES IN VIETNAM AND AMINO ACID SEQUENCE POLYMORPHISM OF EXON2 ON DEF1 GENE

Abstract

Venom of Apis mellifera is liberated by the worker bees to attack enemies and protect their colonies. Amount of venom liberated from imported bees depends on expression level of such genes as def1, sting... Beekeepers could collect dry venom with electric apparatus for treatment of some serious diseases. To get high yield of venom, bee races with high productivity of venom are prerequisite. In this research, relationship between ability of liberating venom of workers and polymorphism of amino acids within Exon2 fragments of their def1 gene were investigated on 12 colonies of 2 honeybee groups with 4 races (3 hive/race). Group L-LxC included 2 races of an A. m. ligustica (L) and a hybrid between queens of L and drones of A. m. carnica (LxC), while group C-CxL were of an A. m. carnica (C) and a hybrid between queens of C and drones of L (CxL). On average, venom productivity of group L-LxC (22.50 - 23.05 mg/hive) was higher than that of C-CxL (18.58 - 18.83 mg/hive) with p<0.05. No significant difference in venom amount between 2 races of each group indicated maternal inheritance of liberating-venom ability of A. mellifera workers. Bootstrap confidence interval (93%) with 4 specific point mutations (10, 16, 53 and 54) along 60 amino acids of Exon2 on def1 gene interpreted molecular basis on higher liberating-venom ability of group L-LxC than group C-CxL. Point mutations between the 2 groups found in this research could be employed as molecular markers for selection of A. mellifera races with high venom productivity.