Collaborative Research: Asymmetrical Gene Flow Between European and African Honey Bee Populations

本世纪最轰动的生物学现象之一是所谓的“非洲化”或“杀人蜂”在美洲的迅速传播。在巴西南部作为野生种群建立以来的33年里，非洲蜜蜂已经殖民了南美洲和中美洲的所有热带和亚热带地区。热带北美洲（墨西哥）现在正在被殖民化，这一不断扩大的人口将在1990年到达美国。非洲蜜蜂的到来伴随着野生种群的迅速增加，涉及人和动物的许多刺痛事件，养蜂场的“非洲化”，最终具有“本土”欧洲亚种特征的蜜蜂消失，以及养蜂业和蜂蜜生产的下降。野生非洲蜜蜂进入以前由欧洲蜜蜂占主导地位的地区的运动提供了一个独特的机会，以获得定量数据的变化，因为这两个遗传上不同的人口相互作用。这项研究将集中在人口水平和殖民地内的过程，有助于管理欧洲和野生非洲人口的遗传变化。研究人员将联合收割机分析和实验方法结合起来，通过使用核和线粒体遗传标记测量遗传变化的速率来评估“欧洲化”和“非洲化”。这两种类型的遗传信息将使他们能够确定母系和父系基因流对这些过程的相对贡献，并确定选择在系统中的作用最强烈。这项研究的结果将提供野生和管理蜜蜂种群之间的遗传相互作用的全面看法。本研究获得的信息对负责制定控制非洲蜜蜂的公共政策和方法的决策者也很有价值。

One of the most sensational biological phenomena of this century has been the rapid spread of the so called "Africanized" or "Killer bees" in the Americas. In the 33 years since their establishment as a feral population in southern Brazil, African derived bees have colonized all the tropical and subtropical regions of South and Central America. Tropical North America (Mexico) is now being colonized and this expanding population will reach the United States in 1990. Arrival of African honey bees is followed by rapid build-up of a feral population, numerous stinging incidents involving people and animals, "Africanization" of apiaries with eventual disappearance of beeswith traits characteristic of "native" European subspecies, and a decline in beekeeping and honey production. Movement of feral African bees into areas previously dominated by European bees provides a unique opportunity to obtain quantitative data on the changes that occur as these two genetically distinct populations interact. This research will focus on the population level and within colony processes that contribute to genetic changes in managed European and feral African populations. The investigators combine analytical and experimental approaches to assess "Europeanization" and "Africanization" by measuring the rates of genetic change with the use of nuclear and mitochondrial genetic markers. These two types of genetic information will allow them to establish the relative contributions of maternal and paternal gene flow to these processes and to determine where selection is acting most intensely in the system. The results of this study will provide a comprehensive view of the genetic interactions between feral and managed honey bee populations. Information obtained in this study also will be valuable to decision makers charged with development of public policies and methodologies to control African bees.