The P-3 and EST loci in the honeybee Apis mellifera.

Data for Apis mellifera indicate that the P-3 proteins and one esterase enzyme are controlled by two genes, P-3 and Est, with two alleles each. The frequency of the P-3 alleles is different in the two subspecies (adansonii and ligustica), that for P-3(F) in Italian bees being 46.9% and in African 0.5%. The frequency of Est(F) is 2.8% in both populations. The Est locus has two codominant alleles and the locus P-3 has two incompletely dominant alleles; the heterozygote P-3( S)/P-3(F) shows only an intermediate band. The two loci are not genetically linked.