Genetic verification of conservation measures of the gene pool of the Burzyan population of the dark forest honeybee (Apis mellifera mellifera) in the "Bashkir Urals" biosphere reserve, Russia.

The genetic identity of Russian indigenous populations of the dark forest honeybee (Apis mellifera mellifera) is gradually being lost due to spontaneous hybridization and gene introgression from other subspecies, which are transferred into the forest and foreststeppe zones for commercial beekeeping. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of various conservation and beekeeping practices in the complex biosphere reserve "Bashkir Urals" (the Southern Urals) in conserving the gene pool of the indigenous Burzyan bee population. We discovered that the variant Q of the COI-COII locus of mitochondrial DNA, which dominates in other bee subspecies, is absent in colonies in the remote landscape zones of this reserve. This haplotype occurs with a relatively low frequency in borts (natural tree hollows) and colods (manmade hollow pieces of logs hung on trees), which are used in wild-hive beekeeping. The proportion of the genetic marker is significantly higher in apiaries, as well as in borts and colods in parts of the reserve without strict conservation regimes. When using 9 microsatellite loci, a tendency was found to increase allelic diversity in subpopulations with a higher occurrence of the haplotype Q. Based on the patterns revealed, ways are discussed for improving measures to conserve the gene pool of the bee population. Copyright and/or publishing rights held by the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association.