Data from: Development of a 44K SNP Assay focussing on the analysis of a varroa specific defense behavior in honey bees (Apis mellifera carnica)

Honey bees are exposed to a number of damaging pathogens and parasites. The most destructive among them is maybe Varroa destructor. A promising approach to prevent its spread is to breed for Varroa tolerant honey bees. A trait which has been shown to provide significant resistance against the Varroa mite is hygienic behavior, a behavioral response of honey bee workers to brood diseases in general. This study reports the development of a 44K SNP-assay, specifically designed for the analysis of hygienic behavior of individual worker bees (Apis mellifera carnica) directed against Varroa destructor. Initially, 70,000 SNPs published by the Honey Bee Genome Project were validated for their suitability in the analysis of Varroa tolerance. This was achieved by genotyping of pooled DNA-samples of trait bearers and two trait-negative controls. Roughly 36,000 of these validated SNPs and another 8,000 SNPs not validated in this study were selected for the construction of a SNP-assay. This assay will be employed to analyze individualized DNA-samples in order to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) involved in the control of the investigated trait. However, this assay is not just suitable to study Varroa tolerance, it is as well applicable to analyze any other trait in honey bees. In addition, because of its high density, this assay provides access into genomic selection with respect to several traits considered in honey bee breeding. It will become publicly available via AROS Applied Biotechnology AS, Aarhus, Denmark before the end of the year 2011.蜜蜂会遭受多种致病性病原体与寄生虫的侵袭，其中破坏力最强的当属狄斯瓦螨（Varroa destructor）。防控其传播的一种颇具前景的策略是选育抗狄斯瓦螨的蜜蜂品系。研究表明，能对狄斯瓦螨提供显著抗性的一个性状是卫生行为（hygienic behavior），即蜜蜂工蜂针对封盖幼虫病害的一般性行为应答。本研究开发了一款专为分析卡尼鄂拉蜂（Apis mellifera carnica）工蜂个体针对狄斯瓦螨的卫生行为而设计的44K单核苷酸多态性（SNP）检测试剂盒。研究初期，本研究团队对蜜蜂基因组计划（Honey Bee Genome Project）公布的70000个单核苷酸多态性位点进行了适用性验证，以评估其用于狄斯瓦螨抗性分析的可行性。该验证通过对携带目标性状的蜜蜂混合DNA样本以及两份性状阴性对照样本进行基因分型完成。最终从上述验证通过的位点中筛选出约36000个，同时纳入本研究未进行验证的8000个位点，用于构建该检测试剂盒。该试剂盒将用于分析单个蜜蜂的DNA样本，以鉴定调控目标性状的数量性状基因座（QTL）。但该试剂盒的应用场景并非仅局限于狄斯瓦螨抗性研究，同样可用于解析蜜蜂的其他任意性状。此外，由于该试剂盒的位点密度较高，其可用于开展蜜蜂育种中涉及的多个性状的基因组选择研究。该试剂盒将于2011年底前通过丹麦奥胡斯市的AROS应用生物技术公司（AROS Applied Biotechnology AS）对外公开发布。