DNA Testing of Honey Bees

[charlievictorbravo]

A bee improvement group that I belong to is keen to have some DNA testing done. The limited testing done some years ago as part of academic research at Plymouth University suggests that some of the breeding lines have over 80% Amm and the need is for some up-to-date DNA testing of the breeding stock Academic studies are ok and cheap but you're stuck with the university's priorities for the which for you might be important but may not be for the researcher.

Are there laboratories that will do honey bee DNA analysis on a commercial basis and how much do they charge?

CVB

 

[jeff33]

No idea, but may be worth approaching universities to see if they would be prepare to do it, perhaps as part of an undergrade or postgrade project? I am using this route down our neck of the woods to get some stock tested.

 

[charlievictorbravo]

No idea, but may be worth approaching universities to see if they would be prepare to do it, perhaps as part of an undergrade or postgrade project? I am using this route down our neck of the woods to get some stock tested.

Have you found anywhere that's interested in doing DNA testing, yet?

CVB

 

[Apple]

A bee improvement group that I belong to is keen to have some DNA testing done. The limited testing done some years ago as part of academic research at Plymouth University suggests that some of the breeding lines have over 80% Amm and the need is for some up-to-date DNA testing of the breeding stock Academic studies are ok and cheap but you're stuck with the university's priorities for the which for you might be important but may not be for the researcher.

Are there laboratories that will do honey bee DNA analysis on a commercial basis and how much do they charge?

CVB

https://apigenix.com/
Cost around 100 euro per sample
Fast turnaround with a new SNPS system

Yeghes da

 

[Apple]

file:///C:/Users/Asus/AppData/Local/Temp/Ellis_etal_IntrogessionAmm_JICO_2018.pdf

may also bee of interest

 

[B+.]

https://apigenix.com/
Cost around 100 euro per sample
Fast turnaround with a new SNPS system

Yeghes da

I know this won't apply to you guys but there was an EU project a couple of years ago. I sent 10*10cm sections of drone eggs produced by queens of a known lineage. They had to be packed in ice and sent overnight delivery to Germany. It only cost me the postage (they said they would reimburse postage but I didn't bother reclaiming it).

 

[Repwoc]

file:///C:/Users/Asus/AppData/Local/Temp/Ellis_etal_IntrogessionAmm_JICO_2018.pdf

may also bee of interest

That's a file on your hard drive.

 

[Apple]

https://www.researchgate.net/public...era_mellifera_L_implications_for_conservation
Try this...
May have been something that I paid for by subscription or because of my academic input???

 

[Apple]

I know this won't apply to you guys but there was an EU project a couple of years ago. I sent 10*10cm sections of drone eggs produced by queens of a known lineage. They had to be packed in ice and sent overnight delivery to Germany. It only cost me the postage (they said they would reimburse postage but I didn't bother reclaiming it).

Did you get results back?

 

[B+.]

Did you get results back?

To be honest, I didn't really learn anything from them I didn't already know. Ancestry information is already stored in the database.

It doesn't really help individual beekeepers by having these tests done as, as soon as the queen is gone, you have nothing to prove the lineage (hence my question to you recently about unique identification of queens). You see, the relationship between queens is crucial to calculating breeding values as each colony is an informant on all the others. If you don't have a unique identification for a queen, you can't chart her ancestry or predict the inbreeding coefficient for progeny. That is the real value of these tests - but only within a large breeding programme which uses controlled breeding.

 

[Apple]

In reality only on the starting blocks with the Cornish variant Amm..

a lot to learn from existing programs as there is no point in re inventing the wheel!

However my breeder queens now have numbered discs affixed ( thanks to Abello for selling me the "propper" adhesive.

Now planning how to mark and date age drones from another breeder colony.... and make up drone flight cages so they don't fly off on me!!

II kit just needs putting back together.... and a plan to get time to get it done!

 

[Repwoc]

II kit just needs putting back together.

Which II kit do you use? Currently looking at this setup: https://buckfastqueen.com/store/ols/products/beefarmer-insemination-kit which seems to be solidly built but not as pricey as the well known makes.

 

[Apple]

Which II kit do you use? Currently looking at this setup: https://buckfastqueen.com/store/ols/products/beefarmer-insemination-kit which seems to be solidly built but not as pricey as the well known makes.

I "reverse engineered" the Schley top of the range kit,, but was trained as an instrument maker by the BBC ( although an electronics engineer!) and have Lathes/mills etc....
Looks OK, a remote Gilmont type syringe makes life easier.
Found 2 set ups useful... one for semen extraction and other for insemination....
compared to B+ I am a total beginner!

 

[charlievictorbravo]

file:///C:/Users/Asus/AppData/Local/Temp/Ellis_etal_IntrogessionAmm_JICO_2018.pdf

may also bee of interest

Dave
That link seems to be a file on the C drive of your computer

Where did you get it from?

CVB

 

[B+.]

In reality only on the starting blocks with the Cornish variant Amm..

a lot to learn from existing programs as there is no point in re inventing the wheel!

However my breeder queens now have numbered discs affixed ( thanks to Abello for selling me the "propper" adhesive.

Now planning how to mark and date age drones from another breeder colony.... and make up drone flight cages so they don't fly off on me!!

II kit just needs putting back together.... and a plan to get time to get it done!

It's all explained in Selektion bei der honigbiene (in German) and summarised in the Coloss paper on selective breeding . Basically, the country code, group number and breeder number prefix everything. Mine is NL-55-15 because I am breeder 15 in group 55 of the Netherlands, despite the fact I am English and live in the UK. After that, there is a sequential queen number and a year number. That part is simple.
A test queen is referred to by her position on an ancestry diagram. 1a is the queen being tested. 1b is the unique queen that provided drones for use in single drone insemination. Rarely, this would be the queen in multiple drone inseminations too as mdi serves little purpose except adding a little diversity when the same 1b queen is used. Usually, at isolated mating stations, we use many control-mated full-siblings to provide drones. These are all daughters of the same control-mated 4a grand-sire. This is probably easier to understand in diagrammatic form rather than words but I can't post it here.
It's important to record the 1a, 2a (dam) and 4a (sire) identification numbers so you know the ancestry - you don't need information about drones as they originate from the 1b, or 4a, queen.

 

[Apple]

• ORIGINAL PAPER
• Published: 22 May 2018

Introgression in native populations of Apis mellifera mellifera L: implications for conservation

Try a google on that or prefix with Ellis.J.
I think paper will cost £29 if not a subscribing member to the Institute of Bugs Ecology!

 

[Repwoc]

I think paper will cost £29

It can be downloaded freely from the researchgate link you posted earlier.

 

[Apple]

http://beebytes.org/
These guys are the bees knees when it comes to genetic testing of honeybees
I believe that they offer an individual service to serious bee breeders in the UK..... and without all the red tape and complications of dealing with anyone based in the EU
AND at a REASONABLE price
Chons da

 

[match]

Not sure on the rules on selling/self-promotion here, so admins please delete if not allowed...

I am one of the founders of Beebytes - at the time we were mentioned we hadn't begun offering testing services, but these are now availablethrough our website

Our first service being offered is M/C lineage testing - that is looking at hybridisation between M (mellifera) and C lineages (carnica/ligustica). We hope to also begin offering other services such as whole genome sequencing and pollen meta-barcoding in the near future.

If anyone has any questions please drop us a line via the contact form on the website and we'll be happy to answer any questions you might have.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Not sure on the rules on selling/self-promotion here, so admins please delete if not allowed...

I am one of the founders of Beebytes - at the time we were mentioned we hadn't begun offering testing services, but these are now availablethrough our website

Our first service being offered is M/C lineage testing - that is looking at hybridisation between M (mellifera) and C lineages (carnica/ligustica). We hope to also begin offering other services such as whole genome sequencing and pollen meta-barcoding in the near future.

If anyone has any questions please drop us a line via the contact form on the website and we'll be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Thus is fine. Thanks for asking though