Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
The natural distribution of the honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) has been changed by humans in recent
decades to such an extent that the formerly widest-spread European subspecies, Apis mellifera
mellifera, is threatened by extinction through introgression from highly divergent commercial strains
in large tracts of its range. Conservation efforts for A. m. mellifera are underway in multiple European
countries requiring reliable and cost-efficient molecular tools to identify purebred colonies. Here, we
developed four ancestry-informative SNP assays for high sample throughput genotyping using the
iPLEX Mass Array system. Our customized assays were tested on DNA from individual and pooled,
haploid and diploid honeybee samples extracted from different tissues using a diverse range of
protocols. The assays had a high genotyping success rate and yielded accurate genotypes. Performance
assessed against whole-genome data showed that individual assays behaved well, although the
most accurate introgression estimates were obtained for the four assays combined (117 SNPs).
The best compromise between accuracy and genotyping costs was achieved when combining two
assays (62 SNPs). We provide a ready-to-use cost-effective tool for accurate molecular identification
and estimation o
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Pedagogical Context
Citation
Henriques, Dora; Browne, Keith A.; Barnett, Mark W.; Parejo, Melanie; Kryger, Per; Freeman, Tom C.; Muñoz, Irene; Garnery, Lionel; Highet, Fiona; Jonhston, J. Spencer; McCormack, Grace P.; Pinto, M. Alice (2018). High sample throughput genotyping for estimating C-lineage introgression in the dark honeybee: An accurate and cost-effective SNP-based tool. Scientific Reports. ISSN 2045-2322. 8:1, p- 1-14