Molecular Marker to Identify Two Stingless Bee Species: Tetragonisca angustula and Tetragonisca fiebrigi (Hymenoptera, Meliponinae)

Authors

  • Ana Lúcia Paz Barateiro Stuchi Universidade Estadual de Maringá
  • Vagner de A. Arnaut de Toledo Universidade Estadual de Maringá
  • Denise Alves Lopes Universidade Estadual de Maringá
  • Liriana Belizário Cantagalli Universidade Estadual de Maringá
  • Maria Claudia Colla Ruvolo-Takasusuki Universidade Estadual de Maringá Departamento de Biotecnologia Genética e Biologia Celular

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13102/sociobiology.v59i1.671

Keywords:

stingless bees, isoenzymes, inhibition, thermostability, taxonomy

Abstract

Tetragonisca angustula and T. fiebrigi esterases were biochemically characterized by their inhibition pattern and thermostability. Workers of both species were collected from nests at the State University of Maringa. In T. fiebrigi three esterases were observed: EST-1 (β-esterase, cholinesterase I), EST-2 (α-esterase, cholinesterase II) and EST-4 (αβ-esterase, carboxylesterase). In T. angustula two esterases were detected: EST-3 (β-esterase, acetylesterase) e EST-4 (αβ-esterase, carboxylesterase). T. angustula EST-3 showed the highest thermostability, and it was not observed above 54°C, while in T. fiebrigi EST- 1 and EST-2 were not detected above 52°C. Through this characterization, it was observed that EST-4 of T. angustula and T. fiebrigi showed identical biochemical characteristics, and probably those esterases are encoded by the same gene in the two species. Together, the biochemical characterization and molecular markers show that the two species are differentiated and secondary contact between the populations can still be occurring. 

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Maria Claudia Colla Ruvolo-Takasusuki, Universidade Estadual de Maringá Departamento de Biotecnologia Genética e Biologia Celular

Associate professor at the State University of Maringa, Department of Biotechnology, Genetics and Cell Biology.
Develop research in Population genetics of social insects (bees), gene expression in bees and pollination.

References

Alonso, W. J. 1998. Abelhas sem ferrao: centenas de especies para polinizacao, producao de mel, lazer e educacao. Artigos tecnicos. Animais de criacao – Abelhas. 626. [online] http://www.snagricultura.org.br/artitec_abelhas.htm (acesso em 01 dezembro 2008).

Alonso, W. J. & C. S. Paim. 2001. As abelhas sem ferrao. [online] http://www.unifap.br/abelhas (acesso em 01 dezembro 2008).

Alves, D. J. 2006. Uso do marcador molecular RAPD para estudo de polimorfismos em populacoes de Tetragonisca angustula L. (Apidae: Meliponinae). Dissertacao de Mestrado em Genetica e Melhoramento. Universidade Estadual de Maringa, Maringa, PR. 45p.

Baitala, T. V., C. A. Mangolin, V. A. A. Toledo & M. C. C. Ruvolo-Takasusuki. 2006. RAPD polymorphism in Tetragonisca angustula (Hymenoptera; Meliponinae, Trigonini) populations. Sociobiology 48: 861-873.

Camargo, J. M. F. & S. R. Menezes-Pedro. 1992. Systematics, phylogeny and biogeography of the Meliponinae (Hymenoptera, Apidae): a mini-review. Apidologie 23: 509-522.

Camargo, J. M. F. & S. R. M. Pedro. 2007. Meliponini Lepeletier, 1836. In: Moure, J. S.; Urban, D.; Melo, G. A. R. (Orgs.). Catalogue of Bees (Hymenoptera, Apoidea) in the Neotropical Region. Curitiba, Sociedade Brasileira de Entomologia, pp. 272-578.

Camargo, J. M. F. & D. A. Possey. 1990. O conhecimento dos Kayapo sobre as abelhas sociais sem ferrao (Meliponinae, Apidae, Hymenoptera): Notas adicionais. Boletim Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi, nova serie Zoologia 6: 17-42.

Castanheira, E. B. & E. P. B. Contel. 2005. Geographic variation in Tetragonisca angustula (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Mliponinae). Journal Apicultural Research 44: 101-105.

Ceron, C. R., J. R. Santos & H. E. M. C. Campos Bicudo. 1992. The use of gelatin to dry cellophane wound slab gels in an embroidering hoop. Brazilian Journal of Genetics

: 201-203.

Cui, F., H. Qu, J. Cong, X. L. Liu & C. L. Qiao. 2007. Do mosquitoes acquire organophosphate resistance by functional changes in carboxylesterases? FASEB Journal 21: 3584–3591.

Diniz-Filho, J. A. F., R. Balestra, F. M. Rodrigues & E. D. Araujo. 1998. Geographic variation of Tetragonisca angustula angustula Latreille (Hymenoptera, Meliponinae) in Central and Southeastern Brazil. Naturalia 23: 193-208.

Healy, M. J., M. M. Dumancic & J. G. Oakeshott. 1991. Biochemical and physiological studies of soluble esterases from Drosophila melanogaster. Biochemical Genetics 29: 365-387.

Hemingway, J. 2000. The molecular basis of two contrasting metabolic mechanisms of insecticide resistance. Insect Biochemical and Molecular Biology 30: 1009-1015.

Hsu, J. C., D. S. Haymer, J. W. Wu & H. T. Feng. 2006. Mutations in the acetycholinesterase gene of Bactrocera dorsalis associated to organophosphorus insecticides. Insect Biochemical and Molecular Biology 36: 396-402.

Iwama, S. & T. S. Melhem. 1979. The pollen spectrum of the honey of Tetragonisca angustula angustula, Latreille (Apidae, Meliponinae). Apidologie 10: 275-295.

Lee, S. E. & E. M. Lees. 2001. Biochemical mechanisms of resistance in strains of Oryzaephilus surinamensis (Coleoptera: Silvanidae) resistant to malathion and chlorpyrifos-methyl. Journal of Economic Entomology 94: 706-713.

Macias-Macias, O., J. Chuc, P. Ancona-Xiu, O. Cauich & J. J. G. Quezada-Euan. 2009. Contribution of native bees and Africanized honey bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) to solanaceae crop pollination in tropical Mexico. Journal of Applied Entomology 133: 456-465.

Michener, C.D. 2000. The bees of the world. The John Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD.

Moure, J. S. 1961. A preliminary supra-especific classification of the Old World Meliponine bees (Hymenoptera, Apoidae). Studia Entomologica 4: 181-242.

Moure, J. S., D. Urban & G. A. R. Melo. 2007. Catalogue of bees (Hymenoptera, Apoidea) in the Neotropical region. Soc. Bras. Entomol. Curitiba, Brasil.

Nei, M. 1978. Estimation of average heterozigosity and genetic distance from a small number of individuals. Genetics 89: 583-590.

Nogueira-Neto, P. 1970. A criacao das abelhas indigenas sem ferrao. 2. ed. Sao Paulo: Chacaras e Quintais.

Nogueira-Neto, P. 1997. Vida e criacao de abelhas indigenas sem ferrao. Sao Paulo: Nogueirapis.

Oakeshott, J. G., E. A. Papenrecht, T. M. Boyce, M. J. Healy & R. J. Russel. 1993. Evolutionary genetics of Drosophila esterases. Genetics 90: 239-268.

Oliveira, R.C., F. M. F. Nunes, A. P. S. Campos, S. M. Vasconcelos, D. Roubik, L. R. Goulart & W. E. Kerr. 2004. Genetic divergence in Tetragonisca angustula Latreille, 1811 (Hymenoptera, Meliponinae, Trigonini) based on RAPD markers. Genetic and Molecular Biology 27: 181-186.

Roubik, D. W. 1983. Nest and colony characteristics of stingless bees from Panama (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Journal of Kansas Entomology Society 56: 327-355.

Ruiz, J. B. 2006. Analise genetica de populacoes em Tetragonisca angustula na regiao noroeste do Parana por meio de isoenzimas. Dissertacao de Mestrado em Genetica e Melhoramento. Universidade Estadual de Maringa, Maringa, PR. 59p.

Ruvolo-Takasusuki, M. C. C., M. A. Del Lama & A. E. E. Soares. 1997. Genetic characterization of a new Apis mellifera esterase. Apidologie 28: 259-267.

Ruvolo-Takasusuki, M. C. C., M. A. Del Lama & A. E. E. Soares. 1998. Esterase-2 polymorphism in Apis mellifera. Journal of Apicultural Research 37: 17-22.

Ruvolo-Takasusuki, M. C. C., L. H. O. Viana, T. V. Baitala, K. C. Nicolin & V. A. A. Toledo. 2006. Characterization of esterases in Tetragonisca angustula and Tetragona clavipes (Hymenoptera; Meliponinae). Brazilian Journal of Morphological Science 23: 431-434.

Stuchi, A. L. P. B., M. C. C. Ruvolo-Takasusuki & V. A. A. Toledo. 2008. Analise da genética de populacoes em abelhas jatai (Tetragonisca angustula Latreille) por meio de isoenzimas, Magistra 20: 68-77.

Schwarz, H. F. 1938. The stingless bees (Meliponidae) of British Guiana and some related forms. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 74: 437-508.

Veen, J. W. van & M. J. Sommeijer. 2000a. Observation of gynes and drones around nuptial flights in the stingless bees Tetragonisca angustula and Melipona beecheii (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Meliponinae). Apidologie 31: 47-54.

Veen, J.W. van & M. J. Sommeijer. 2000b. Colony reproduction in Tetragonisca angustula (Apidae, Meliponini). Insect Sociology 47: 70-75.

Vit, P., S. Bogdanov, V. Kilchenmann. 1994. Composition of Venezuelan honeys from stingless bees (Apidae: Meliponinae) and Apis mellifera L. Apidologie 25: 278-288.

Walker, C. H. & M. I. Mackness. 1983. Esterases: problems of identification and classification. Biochemical Pharmacology 32: 3265-3269.

Downloads

Published

2014-10-21

How to Cite

Stuchi, A. L. P. B., Toledo, V. de A. A. de, Lopes, D. A., Cantagalli, L. B., & Ruvolo-Takasusuki, M. C. C. (2014). Molecular Marker to Identify Two Stingless Bee Species: Tetragonisca angustula and Tetragonisca fiebrigi (Hymenoptera, Meliponinae). Sociobiology, 59(1), 123–134. https://doi.org/10.13102/sociobiology.v59i1.671

Issue

Vol. 59 No. 1 (2012)

Section

Articles

License

Sociobiology is a diamond open access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

 

    1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.

 

    1. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.

 

  1. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).

Most read articles by the same author(s)