Phylogeny of different geographic populations Apis cerana in China based on mtDNA cyt b sequences

In order to provide the basic datum to protect and rationally develop the Apis cerana resources in china, phylogeny of different geographic populations Apis cerana in China was studied based on mtDNA Cytochrome b gene sequences. In this study, the partial sequences of mtDNA Cytochrome b gene of 21 colonies of Apis cerana collected from 10 provinces and the homologous sequences of Apis nigrocincta and Apis mellifera downloaded from GenBank were analyzed. Molecular phylogenetic trees were reconstructed by minimum-spanning network methods. The multiple sequence alignment was performed using special software. The results indicated that the length of PCR products was 429 bp. Among the 21 analyzed sequences there were 13 variable sites, of which 9 sites were transitions, 4 were transversions and there were no deletions or insertions in the sequences. Phylogenetic analysis based on the mtDNA Cyt b gene of 21 colonies of Apis cerana and the homologous sequences of outgroups indicated that the groups of Apis nigrocincta, Apis mellifera and Apis cerana were clustered respectively. Jilin, Hainan and Yunnan groups of Apis cerana separated from the others in China [Acta Zoologica Sinica 54(6): 1005–1013, 2008].