Molecular marker-based identification of stingless bees (tetragonula sp.) in the Philippines

Issue Date

10-2017

Abstract

Stingless bees, Tetragonula sp., are known to be key pollinators in agriculture; contribute to farmlands by pollinating various cultivated crops, maintain plant biodiversity, and promote ecological conservation in various ecosystems. It is, therefore, crucial to be able to identify taxonomic diversities for these insects. Species identification using highly conserved regions found in mitochondrial 12S and 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes has been widely used in molecular taxonomic studies. This study thus aims to determine efficiency of species identification using these molecular markers on stingless bees found in the Philippines. Samples morphologically characterized to be Tetragonula sp. were collected from colonies of representative sampling locations in Southern Luzon, mainly Bicol and CALABARZON regions, and were stored in 95% ethanol. Genomic DNA extraction of samples was performed and optimized. Regions of 12S and 16S were then PCR-amplified and subjected to agarose gel electrophoresis to check for target amplicons. The amplicons were then sent for capillary sequencing at the Philippine Genome Center, and nucleotide sequences were analyzed using NCBI BLAST. The BLAST results showed extensive number of hits for the 16S amplicons which mainly consisted of Tetragonula species with ≥90% and above identity. On the other hand, results for the 12S show limited BLAST hits consisting of Melipona and Bombus species with percent identities <90%. This study revealed that 16S rRNA-based identification proved more effective in identifying stingless bees up to the species level for more efficient taxonomic diversity studies.

Source or Periodical Title

The Philippine Entomologist

ISSN

0048-3753

Volume

31

Issue

2

Page

141

Document Type

Article

Frequency

semi-annually

Language

English

En – AGROVOC descriptors

INSECTA; MELIPONA; POLLINATORS; RNA; GENETIC MARKERS; MITOCHONDRIAL GENETICS; GENOMICS; IDENTIFICATION; DIVERSITY

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