Complete mitochondrial genome of the honeybee Apis cerana native to two remote islands in Japan
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TECHNICAL NOTE
Complete mitochondrial genome of the honeybee Apis cerana native to two remote islands in Japan Hisashi Okuyama1 · Takeshi Wakamiya1 · Ayumi Fujiwara2 · Izumi Washitani3 · Jun‑ichi Takahashi1
Received: 24 February 2017 / Accepted: 10 March 2017 © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2017
Abstract The honeybee species native to two remote islands (Amami-Oshima and Tsushima) in Japan were previously reported to be morphologically distinct from the Japanese honeybee Apis cerana japonica. To our knowledge, this is the first study to analyze the complete mitochondrial genome of the honeybee species from the two islands. The mitochondrial genome was a circular and approximately 1.5 kbp molecule that included 13 proteincording genes (PCGs), 22 tRNA genes, 2 rRNA genes, and 1 AT-rich control region. The average AT content of the mitochondrial genome was 84%. The genetic distance suggested that the honeybee species from the two remote islands were more closely related to A. cerana japonica, among the A. cerana subspecies. Although the mitochondrial genome of the honeybee species from the two remote islands showed genetic variation distinct from those found in the A. cerana group, they were classified as the Japanese honeybee A. cerana japonica. Keywords Honeybee · Apis cerana · Mitochondrial DNA · Rare regional population · Conservation genetics
* Jun‑ichi Takahashi [email protected]‑su.ac.jp 1
Department of Life Sciences, Kyoto Sango University, Kyoto, Japan
2
Takehito Yoshida Lab, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
3
Faculty of Science and Engineering, Integrated Science and Engineering for Sustainable Society, Chuo University, Tokyo, Japan
Introduction The cavity-nesting honeybee Apis cerana japonica is native to the Japanese main islands (Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu) except for Hokkaido and Okinawa Islands. It is a subspecies of the common honeybee Apis cerana that is widely distributed in Asia. Two remote Japanese islands―Amami-Oshima and Tsushima―constitute precious ecosystems, and the honeybee A. cerana is native to these islands. The Amami-Oshima Islands (714 km2) in the southern part of Japan are being considered for inclusion as a natural site on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Tsushima Islands (709 km2) in the northern part of Kyusyu Island in Japan also have a rare ecosystem and include the endangered species wildcat and numerous endemic species; the number of native honeybees on these islands is decreasing owing to the recent invasion of the hornet Vespa velutina (Sakai and Takahashi 2014). Previous studies suggested that compared to A. cerana japonica, A. cerana found on these islands show morphologic and genetic variations (Ruttner 1986, 1988; Takahashi and Yoshida 2002; Takahashi et al. 2007; Fujiwara et al. 2015). Further, geologically, Amami-Oshima and Tsushima Islands are hypothesized to have become isolated from the East Asian continent and Japanese archipelago, at the latest, during the middle Pleistocene (Kizaki and Os
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