PCR-based detection of Acarapis mites in Iranian honey bee Apis mellifera meda (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Plant Protection, College of Agriculture, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, Iran,

2 Department of Plant Protection College of Agriculture Shahid BahonarUniversity of Kerman Kerman -Iran

3 Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, College of Agriculture, Shahid Bahonar University, Kerman, Kerman, Iran.

Abstract

Acarapis mites are one of the world’s most important honey bee pests. A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to amplify the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I gene to investigate the infestation of Iranian honey bee Apis mellifera meda populations with Acarapis species. From 2020 to 2022, bee workers were collected from apiaries across nine country provinces. The PCR assays were performed with four primer sets, and Acarapis-positive samples were sequenced to identify species. Acarapis woodi showed the highest infection rate, while A. dorsalis was less, and no infection with A. externus was observed. Different sets of primers were used in this investigation. Two primer sets showed different results: the prevalence of A. woodi ranged from 58.33 to 75% with primer set ACR2 and 25 to 50% with primer set ACR1. This is the first report on the existence of Acarapis mites in Iranian A. mellifera based on molecular techniques.

Keywords

Journal of Advances in Plant Protection
Volume 1, Issue 1
June 2024
Pages 17-22

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