Using DNA microsatellites for maternity testing in honeybees (Apis mellifera L.)

Performance testing in honeybees relies on comparing colony traits of commercial interest in a 1- or 2-year test period. Groups of sister colonies are tested to determine breeding values and the procedure is gravely distorted if unrelated queens are included in the sister groups. Maternity was verified in nine sister queen groups from a routine performance test. Individual workers (n = 40) were taken from 36 queenright colonies and genotyped using four DNA microsatellites. Queen genotypes were derived from the worker offspring. The consistency of maternity of the sister queen groups was evaluated using the number of alleles per locus and the putative mother queen genotypes. One group unambiguously included non-sister queens. In our tested population, the probability of not detecting unrelated queens ranged from < 0.001 up to 0.005 depending on the putative mother queen genotype. In light of the high costs and labour of testing colony traits, we recommend including maternity testing into the routine procedure of honeybee performance testing.