Characterization of the native honey bee (Apis mellifera jemenitica) in the south western region of Saudi Arabia using morphometric and genetic (mtDNA COI) characteristics

Enas A A Alabdali; Hamed A Ghramh; Essam H Ibrahim; Zubair Ahmad; Asma N Asiri

doi:10.1016/j.sjbs.2021.01.021

Characterization of the native honey bee (Apis mellifera jemenitica) in the south western region of Saudi Arabia using morphometric and genetic (mtDNA COI) characteristics

Saudi J Biol Sci. 2021 Apr;28(4):2278-2284. doi: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2021.01.021. Epub 2021 Jan 20.

Authors

Enas A A Alabdali¹, Hamed A Ghramh^{1

2

3}, Essam H Ibrahim^{1

2

4}, Zubair Ahmad^{3

5}, Asma N Asiri^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Biology Department, Faculty of Science, King Khalid University, P.O. Box 9004, Abha 61413, Saudi Arabia.
² Research Center for Advanced Materials Science (RCAMS), King Khalid University, P.O. Box 9004, Abha 61413, Saudi Arabia.
³ Unit of Bee Research and Honey Production, Faculty of Science, King Khalid University, P.O. Box 9004, Abha 61413, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Blood Products Quality Control and Research Department, National Organization for Research and Control of Biologicals, Cairo, 12611, Egypt.
⁵ Biology Department, Faculty of Arts and sciences, Zahran al-Janobe, King Khalid University, P.O. Box 9004, Abha 61413, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Apis mellifera jemenitica incorporates a few perceived subspecies that vary in their natural properties and farming qualities. Mitochondrial COI gene sequence (mtCOI) has not been used before for bee identification in the southwestern region of Saudi Arabia. The aim of this work was to study the morphometry and analyzing the mtCOI of all collected bees. The nucleotide sequence of the mtCOI gene was analyzed. Similarity searches and distances between each obtained DNA and sequences available in GenBank were made. Morphometric analysis revealed close similarities among the studied bees, but these similarities are different from those previously indicated in earlier studies of the same region. Molecular studies revealed that the collected bees are similar to each other and some other sequences found in GenBank, but these bees are a new hybrid or subspecies that are different from those previously reported in the same region, indicating the emergence of a new hybrid.

Keywords: Aseer; Carniolan bees; DNA Barcode; Genomic analysis; Morphometry.