PCR-RFLP Analysis of Two mtDNA Gene Segments in Iranian Honey Bee Population

The honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) has a large number of geographic subspecies distributed across Europe، Africa and Asia، many of which have been described. Geographic subspecies identification is so important for bee breeding and preserving honeybee biodiversity. In the current study، mitochondrial DNA analysis was used to find out the extent of variation among Iranian honeybee population. Honeybee samples were collected from different locations in Iran. Samples from foreign colonies were used as control. BgII and TaqI restriction enzymes were used for restriction of amplified mtDNA (Cytb and ND5) and restricted fragments were separated in 3 percent agarose gel. All of the samples showed the recognized site for Bg/II، in addition for ND5 gene the same digestion patterns for all samples were found. The result shows that in this population we don’t have variation in the studied loci.