PRELIMINARY RESEARCHES REGARDING THE GENETIC AND MORPHOMETRIC CHARACTERIZATION OF HONEYBEES (A. MELLIFERA L.) FROM ROMANIA
Keywords:
honeybee, Apis mellifera carpathica, mtDNA, morphometry, population characterization, ecotypeAbstract
The international investigations regarding the honeybees’ diversity carried out until
now have revealed a certain degree of genetic pollution in different countries from
Europe, because of the import of more productive honeybees’ races or of some
interracial honeybees’ hybrids. This fact might have a negative impact on the
success adaptability of honeybees at the ecosystem. Although, the Romanian
honeybees (Apis mellifera carpathica) are well adapted to the local conditions and
express a good resistance to diseases, the introgression (genetic pollution) of
different honeybees’ races could be an imminent event. So that, starting from 2007,
by a cooperation between the Institute for Beekeeping Research and Development
from Bucharest and the Institute of Genetics of the University of Bucharest, we have
initiated different investigations in order to obtain a more accurate state of the
Romanian honeybees’ diversity. We have performed specific molecular analyses,
using mtDNA (the COI-COII test) extracted from 32 different honeybees samples
collected from several regions from Romania. For a better and detailed
characterization of the collected honeybee’s samples we have also carried out some
morphometric measurements of their wings. Our data have shown that the
Romanian population of honeybees is almost homogenous from the genetic and the
morphometric points of views. These types of investigations represent a premiere for
Romania.
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