Evaluation of phylogenetic characteristics of dwarf honeybee populations (Apis florea) using COI, intergenic region and COII

Determination of genetic characteristics of animates is the first step in breeding. This research was conducted for evaluation of genetic diversity of dwarf honeybee populations (Apis florea) in southwest and southern of Iran. The sampling was conducted in four provinces of Iran including Khozestan (Dezful and Abadan), Boshehr (Bndardeylm and Khormoj) Fars (Firoozabad and Khorrambid) and Hormozgan (Hamiran and Bandar Abbas). For studying of the genetic characteristics, partial COI, tRNAleu, intergenic region and partial COII were evaluated. Phylogenetic trees were drawn by Baysian and Maximum Parsimony (MP) methods. After sequence alignment, there was one and two single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in partial COI and intergenic region (situated between tRNAleu and COII) respectively in studied populations of Iran. Sequences of COI gene grouped the studied populations in three groups including Dylam, Firozabad, Abadan and Homeyran in the first group, Khormoj and Bandarabas in the second group and Dezfol and Khorambid in the third group. In addition, COI gene showed more genetic diversity in dwarf honeybee populations in southwest and southern areas of Iran.