Allozyme polymorphism and phylogenetic relationships in Apis mellifera subspecies selectively reared in Poland and Bulgaria.

The genetic variability of honey bee populations of three subspecies selectively reared in Poland (A. m. carnica and A. m. caucasica) and Bulgaria (A. m. macedonica-type rodopica) was studied using isoenzyme analysis of six enzyme systems (MDH-1, ME, EST-3, ALP, PGM and HK) corresponding to 6 loci. All loci were found to be polymorphic in the studied populations. Three alleles were detected at each locus: MHD-1 (MDH65, MDH80 and MDH100), Me (ME90, ME100 and ME106), EST-3 (EST94, EST100 and EST118), ALP (ALP80 ALP90 and ALP100), PGM (PGM80, PGM100 and PGM114) and HK (HK87, HK100 and HK110). The observed and expected heterozygosities (Ho and He) ranged from 0.196 (A. m. macedonica SM) to 0.265 (A. m. carnica MV) and from 0.224 (A. m. macedonica SM) to 0.273 (A. m. carnica GR), respectively. Allele frequencies of all loci were used to estimate Nei's (1972) genetic distance, which was found to range from 0.003 (between A. m. macedonica TR and SM and between A. m. carnica GR and MV populations) to 0.057 (between A. m. macedonica SM and A. m. caucasica populations). The estimated mean F(ST) value from allozyme data was 0.0364. A UPGMA dendrogram was obtained by genetic distance matrix methods; A. m. macedonica (type rodopica), A. m. carnica and A. m. caucasica populations represented different clades.