Phylogenetic relationship study of Iranian subspecies honeybee with other honeybee subspecies using morphological and molecular markers

Morphological and molecular studies are considered as a powerful tool for estimating genetic diversity and the determination of phylogenetic relationships among different populations of honeybee subspecies. In the present study, morphological and molecular markers (PCR-RFLP) were used to study the phylogenetic relationships of Iranian subspecies honeybee with other honeybee subspecies around the world. Samples were collected from 100 cities belonging to 20 Iranian provinces during the summer of 2016. A total of 2,250 and 300 worker bees were studied for morphological and molecular analyses, respectively. The results of phylogenetic trees plotted using morphological and molecular markers revealed that 29 honeybee subspecies were classified into five groups. In this clustering, the Iranian subspecies honeybee (A. m. meda) with A. m. cyprica, A. m. syriaca, A. m. anatolica, A. m. armeniaca, A. m. caucasica, A. m. caucasica, Am. Pomonella subspecies were assigned in same cluster. This group included subspecies from Eastern Mediterranean, the Near East and the East of the Middle East (O), which was reported in previous studies. The results showed that the honeybee subspecies (or race) in Iran was exactly the same as the Iranian honeybee subspecies (A. m. meda); it also seems that imports of foreign subspecies in the past two decades and the trafficking imports of queen in the last decade had no significant impact on Iranian honeybee subspecies genetic purity due to its adaptation to the country's climates and the instability and incompatibility of other imported subspecies, so that it has not lost its genetic identity.