Variability and Number of Circulating Complementary Sex Determiner (Csd) Alleles in a Breeding Population of Italian Honeybees under Controlled Mating

Maria Grazia De Iorio, Barbara Lazzari, Licia Colli, Giulio Pagnacco, Giulietta Minozzi

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

Abstract

In Apis mellifera, csd is the primary gene involved in sex determination: haploid hemizygous eggs develop as drones, while females develop from eggs heterozygous for the csd gene. If diploid eggs are homozygous for the csd gene, diploid drones will develop, but will be eaten by worker bees before they are born. Therefore, high csd allelic diversity is a priority for colony survival and breeding. This study aims to investigate the variability of the hypervariable region (HVR) of the csd gene in bees sampled in an apiary under a selection scheme. To this end, an existing dataset of 100 whole-genome sequences was analyzed with a validated pipeline based on de novo assembly of sequences within the HVR region. In total, 102 allelic sequences were reconstructed and translated into amino acid sequences. Among these, 47 different alleles were identified, 44 of which had previously been observed, while 3 are novel alleles. The results show a high variability in the csd region in this breeding population of honeybees.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-10
Number of pages10
JournalGenes
Volume15
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024

Keywords

  • alleles variability
  • Apis mellifera
  • hypervariable region
  • complementary sex determiner gene
  • breeding population

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